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Blackface is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the United States, used to affect the countenance of an iconic, racist, American archetype, that of the darky or coon. The term blackface also refers to a genre of musical and comedic theatrical presentation in which blackface makeup is worn. White blackface performers in the past used burnt cork, then later greasepaint, to affect jet-black skin and exaggerated lips, often wearing wooly wigs and ragged clothes to complete the transformation.
White comedian Thomas D. Rice invented blackface, introducing the song " Jump Jim Crow" and an accompanying dance in his act in 1828. The song had a syncopated rhythm and purportedly recreated the dancing of a black hosteler, Jim Cuff, or "Jim Crow," whom Rice had seen in Cincinnati, Ohio:
Rice performed all over the country under the pseudonym "Daddy Jim Crow." The name later became attached to statutes that codified the reinstitution of segregation after Reconstruction.
Initially, blackface performers were part of traveling troupes, or minstrel shows. In addition to music and dance, minstrel shows featured comical skits in which performers portrayed buffoonish, lazy, superstitious black characters who were cowardly and lascivious, lusted after white women, who stole, lied pathologically and slaughtered the English language. Such troupes in the early days of minstrelsy were all-male, so cross-dressing white men also played black women who often were either unappealingly and grotesquely mannish or highly sexually provocative. At the time, the stage also featured comic stereotypes of conniving, venal JewThe word Jew is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to either a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for as; cheap ScotsmenThe Scots tribe originated from Ireland, from the now-called counties Antrim and Down. In 500 under King Fergus, the Scots invaded Argyll and established the realm known as Dal Riata ( Dalriada) in the Pictish lands known as Caledonian by the Romans.; drunken IrishmenThe island of Ireland ire in Irish, Airlann in Ulster Scots) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Irelan; ignorant Southerners; gullible rural folk; and the like.
Minstrel shows were a fantastically popular show business phenomenon in the USAThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in from 1828Events January 4 The Vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Comte de Villele as Prime Minister of France. January 22 The Duke of Wellington succeeds Lord Goderich as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He repeals the Test Act, emancipating all Catholics, and through the 1930sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Link Trainer invented Sc, also enjoying some popularity in the UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly and in parts of Europe in the late 19thAlternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical ( 18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801- 1900. Events The Little Ice Age ended and early 20th century. As a result, the genre played a powerful role in shaping racist perceptions of and prejudices about African-Americans in particular and blacks, generally.
By 1840, African-American performers also were performing in blackface makeup. White minstrel shows featured white performers pretending to be blacks, playing their versions of black music and speaking ersatz black dialects. All-black minstrel shows, however, often were billed as "authentic" and "the real thing," and also had tremendous public appeal. American author Mark Twain wrote in his autobiographical notes in 1846, after seeing a "genuine nigger show, the extravagant nigger show," that it was "the show which to me had no peer." For him, it was "a thoroughly delightful thing."
And though African-American blackface productions also often contained demeaning, self-mocking buffoonery and comedy, for many black artists, they were a practical livelihood. Some minstrel shows also managed subtly to poke fun at the racist attitudes of whites or champion the abolitionist cause. And it was through blackface performers, white and black, that the richness and exuberance of African-American music and dance first reached mainstream audiences in the U.S. and abroad.
The songs of northern composer Stephen Foster figured prominently in blackface minstrel shows of the period. Though written in dialect, they were free of the ridicule and blatantly racist caricatures that so characterized other songs of the genre. Foster's works treated slaves and the South in general with an often cloying sentimentality that appealed to audiences of the day.
Some performers of genuine talent performed in blackface, including Al Jolson; Eddie Cantor; Mickey Rooney; and actor and comedian Bert Williams, who was the first black performer in vaudeville and on Broadway. But apart from cultural references such as those seen in theatrical cartoons, onstage blackface essentially was eliminated, post- vaudeville, when it became increasingly associated with racism and bigotry.
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