Blackface: The Roots of a Racist Art Form
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- How Black Producers Peeled the Tar From Blackface; Setting the Stage for American Musical Theater. Join us immediately after the premiere on UA-cam Live as a panel discusses this important history. At Vanguard, we are changing the narrative through theater dedicated to DREAM, Diversity, Reciprocity, Education, Awareness & Mentorship. Please visit us at vanguardtheate..., or find us across social media @vtcnj and #dreamVTC
This is a wonderful presentation on a difficult subject. However, rather than shy away from it, the presenter shared facts to not only tell the ugly side, but also of the strength, resiliency, and brilliance of black people to change the narrative and begin to tell their own stories. Again, well done.
Super interesting and well done video on the subject. Really puts things in context, and made me go "man, that was horrible, but I get why it happened." Dismissing uglier parts of history as random acts of human cruelty teaches us nothing. The early history of black theater was super neat as well, great to see how it all ties together. Do wish public reaction to it was covered a bit though, rather curious about that.
Thank you.
Everything is racist. Gimme a break.
@@failyourwaytothetop I'm pretty sure blackface is more racist than the average activity.
What about all the uncomplimentary stereotypes about WHITE people - like "dumb blonde", hillbilly, religious republican, suburbanite, and frat boy - which are CURRENTLY being perpetuated by the MODERN media (tv, movies, etcetera) and that these militant "woke liberal" types never seem to dispute?
This is so shocking to me how so many jokes that are popular comes from minstrels (and I say this as someone who had little to no knowledge on that subject since we weren’t thought that in school, had to do my own researches). Thank you for talking about this!!
This video is so thoroughly researched and well presented. Kudos. I normally don't comment on UA-cam videos, but I was truly struck by how engaging the presenter has made this uncomfortable yet important material. And the production too! How do you not have more subscribers? If all your videos are of a similar quality, I am happy to add one!
Thank you! I'm a high school teacher looking for materials that tell the truth. I will be showing this to my students. I can't wait for more!
I hope the parents every student you "teach" harass you relentlessly for that.
@@Caldwell007 why? What is your problem?!
@@r3ady780lmao who gives a fuck? This is American history my guy. And honestly this was the least bad thing white people were doing to black people. Black face is overhyped.
I wish my mostly white high school showed minstrel movies too! I love everything historical.
The more I delve into our history, I am then compelled to ask the question:
Have we ever been "Good Loving Christians" or "Good Satanic Hypocrites"??😔😢
What an incredibly moving, thoughtful and well researched piece! Everyone should watch this - by being more informed of where we came from we can more successfully navigate the implications our past has in our current moment and moving forward to a more equitable and just future for all of us. Thank you so much for making this!
Thank you!
I just saw your Tweet were you tagged me saying that you do a Premiere again 🥰 I was on when you did the Martin Luther king video ... LOVED IT .... and today im here again too ! It’s again a HUGE time difference but ... Im on vacation so .... IM EXCITED
Thank you for joining us again!!!
This goes deep and this is disgusting. It’s crazy how normal it was. I don’t even know what to say
Thank you - It's hard to look at the past but we must, in order to move forward. Thanks for watching.
America was never normal to begin with
You know how we can make America greater getting rid of RACISM then we’ll all be happy. So happy in fact that everyone wouldn’t have to deal with being judged by there skin and ps DO NOT SAY MAMMY
Cause it was funny and the music was genuinely great.
Yes they yet exsist!! They love stressing us and the old spirits is. We might get togeather and take American. They have to keep up in a low mentality brain washing such as... every desease we get it more than all. Allow other to look down on us. Keep up seporated. Dont teach us the same in schools ..etc... how absurd A people whom have only help and still do. Smh. When will we wake up!!!!!!!!!!!
This was EXCELLENT! And all I have to say is that I didn’t learn nearly this much about Minstrelsy during my three years of required theatre history class during college for my BFA in Performance.
I hope undergrad theatre programs are teaching students this. It’s so important. The whitewashed version is not acceptable. Janeece, you are just extraordinary!
That is why we do this work! Thank you for joining us!
Thanks so much! Will be directing students this wonderful presentation.
Thank you!
Keep up the good work SIS thank you for the understanding !
wow, really sis? you are sisters because of your skin colours, racist.
Wonderful exploration of minstrel roots in our popular culture
Thank you so much.
Extremely constructive information. Thank you for taking the time to produce this content.
thank you!
Why doesn't this video have 8 million views by now?
Thank you Janeece for this very interesting, informative, and important video!
I am currently writing a blog and podcast episode about the Australian use of the words wog and coon and this was so incredibly helpful and informative. The podcast is coming out soon and it's called The Strength of Us and I will be linking this video in the show notes because I think that it so incredibly educational and important. Thank you so much for sharing this freely. Lisa.
That's wonderful! Please let us know.
Please don’t forget the Australian slang “dole-bludger.” It means someone who doesn’t work and relies solely of governmental welfare for support.
Thank you for this video. It was quite interesting. I just wish it were longer! I could listen to this lady talk about theatre history for _hours!_ lol.
What is so racist about Uncle Ben’s? He practically invented par cooked rice, he shouldn’t be cancelled.
I love that she’s being educational but also throwing shade in some parts
“ throwing shade “ …. That’s racist. What shade ? Dark …. Is shade bad?
i've recently been listening to old blues music, a type of music i haven't really given much of a try, at least the 20's and 30's stuff. I hear "glee" in blues for some reason
I'm extremely grateful for your teaching and knowledge on this humiliating subject.🙏🏽💯
This is wonderful information and engagingly presented. Thank you so much.
I learned alot from this video. Thank you. I also appreciate how you didnt make it end in a sad or negative manner. You're teaching us anout black face and other things race involved without shame or anger. Its history.
Thank you for this long form look at this history. People have no idea how important this entertainment tradition is to the way American comedy and entertainment developed. Not just theater but popular music, movies TV all have their roots in performance styles and tropes in minstrel shows. It's usually glossed over as "vaudeville". Bminstrel
Thank you for your kind words.
The Jamaican reggae group “The Abyssinian’s” have a song very similar to the Abyssinia song played here. It’s amazing how African Americans were able to take such a sick minded tradition based in mimicry and mockery and flip it into a tradition of empowerment.
Jim Craw laws are Democrat's project and MLK was Republican. Tells about "tradition of empowerment" with only Black zones in founded in 2020 CHAZ country.
It is hard to understand why African American actors would further the stereotypes but bear in mind it was still a job and it was money albeit they were not paid but a fraction of White actors. So while actors like Hattie McDaniel and Bill Robinson may have furthered the stereotype it was still a job and today we appreciate their performances even though they were under extreme social pressure
Blackface in theatre existed in Europe hundreds of years before Jim Crow.
True - goes back to the middle ages at least!
Ofc
Excelente video!! saludos desde México !!
Shirley Verrett recorded Three Song by Thomas Pasatieri! Her recording of the Lullaby has been a huge inspiration for me for decades.
Black actors did black face as a hustle also a way to make fun of white people. The only door that would open for us. We wonder why people use the n word so much but we brought all the products that were shown in this video lived by them. And sang the songs
In college (1969) I had a girl friend who studied theater. She told me about one of the unintended positive results of mistral shows, namely that a black face could speak unpopular political ideas when white face could not.
I apply 'blackface' twice a month, to entertain senior citizens at a lunch club. I'm a professionally trained pianist and Banjo player, a member of the 'Somalian Serenaders'. I usually sing Al Jolson numbers, and some more obscure French Creole tunes. I perform with the full support of my local Baptist Church Minister. The highly esteemed, Reverend Cleotus Jamesbody.
Great presentation!
Thank you!
Thank you for joining us!
I dont quite know what to type, however i can write that this helped me explain to others about this topic. Many white people still are so blinded by the blatiant level of this kind of thinking and then to use it as the entertainment, burdens my thoughts. Thank you to the set of this channel to let us understand the effects our behavior is detestable....in this direction and unfortunately history. I am humbled to be able to share my words and thinking, Please find my words one of admiration and deep respect for Anyone whom has experienced or has had loved ones effected.
Wonderful presentation! 🙋🏾♀️🙋🏾♀️❤️🖤💚
Fantastic video
Don't know if its right to comment as I'm white british however I just want to say I really hate those old black face cartoons and Jim crow stand up shows as black people look nothing like those portrayals and aren't dumb at all
I also feel really ashamed of my ancestors as black face is legit dehumanising judgemental and stupid the history from what I see minstral shows ' show how ignorant and dumb society can truly be to other cultures though I'm sure there are other cultures than white culture what poke fun of other cultures as well.
I also think that we should learn from the past but never censor history in movies or cartoons as I don't want history to repeat itself and admitedly I grew up with movies like song of the South and watched those old Tom and jerry shorts and loved uncle remus and mammy two shoes and the crows from dumbo as characters. I never knew as a kid that they were apparently racist portrayals I also never hated black people growing up as all I saw were people of different skin color.
blackface jokes should definitely not exist today and to be honest I'm quite shocked that its still around blind malicious and ignorant Racism of any culture should NOT be practiced to this day.
Thank you for this very thoughtful comment. You make a lot of valid points and we really appreciate it.
And of course you have a right to comment!
@@VanguardTheaterCompany no problem
Extremely informative, thank you!
It wasn't racist at the time. It was normal.
Robert Downey Jr and Jimmy kimmel, and jesse lee peterson impersonate african Americans, damn well I might add..
Interesting historical perspective. Blackface performers simply adapted many of the techniques of the Commedia del'Arte. The dumb puns, jokes and slapstick antics were popular long, in fact centuries, before the minstrel show. The characters of Pulcinella, Pantalone and Pierrot are definite parallels to Mr. Bones, Tambo and Mr. Interlocutor. In Europe the comedy was based upon the aristocrats, magistrates and other members of the educated elites being made fun of and gotten the best of by ordinary simple folk. "Punch and Judy" puppet shows are another derivation of this early form of theater. Minstrel Shows like the Commedia del'Arte used exaggerated farce and satire to poke fun of the "masters". Clowns come from the same theatrical tradition.
By the early 1800s the British stage had adopted many of the lame humor and slapstick to stage performance and a type of variety show including solo performers and small troupes. Blackface minstrelsy begins to dominate as an American comedic form in the mid to late 1850s. Often the Minstrel Show was many times a part of of a larger and varied bill of performers often including classical music and dramatic readings as well as, what we would now term "Circus Acts" of juggling and acrobatics.
Vaudeville was the next derivative, using similar comedic techniques.
Thanks for the added information and perspective. I'm a novice on this topic and still learning more. My initial impression is that people tend to oversimplify it, do some amount of revisionist history and assign blame in some ways it's not due. In other words, because there was racism in many of the minstrel shows (or in the majority of them, or in most of them), then every single thing about them was racist, and anyone from that era who did blackface was racist (versus some of them celebrating black people or perhaps even half of them celebrating black people). Some minstrel clips I've seen are racist while others portray black people positively with various positive traits such as being witty, insightful, good-natured, creatively artistic and strong performers.
I'm Irish and the only two things my people are commonly portrayed as are very, very negative: alcoholic drunkenness and getting into fights / brawls. Every ethnic group and race tend to get portrayed in certain ways that of course don't represent all people from that group. That's been going on since the start of time, and still to this day. For example, most black Americans I know pigeonhole or stereotype blacks in Africa or blacks in the Caribbean ... like with a Jamaican accent and a laid back chill attitude ... that is does not represent all black people from the islands.
Humans have a very hard time viewing things and people and cultures as being complex, and our brains tend to simplify things. People should read the book "Stick" for scientific research about this, and how humans normally don't remember complexity ... even if they want to. It's one of the major weaknesses of most human brains. It seems that a few of the traits portrayed in the minstrel shows were negative such as being lazy, but it seems that more than half the traits were very positive ones. My initial thinking is that I'd gladly swap the overall portrayal of blacks in the minstrel shows for the portrayal of the Irish.
My impression so far from watching a few videos is: I think if I lived in the 1850s in the North of the US and I was raised to think of black slaves as savages or as subhuman, seeing many of these minstrel clips would humanize blacks to me and make me think they shouldn't be in chains, or whipped or enslaved. That said, if the shows were stating that blacks couldn't take care of themselves and thus needed to be slaves, that is horrible. I haven't seen that in the videos I've seen yet, but I haven't seen many. I plan to watch more of them to learn more.
Also, I'm not saying that blackface minstrel shows were on the whole a good thing or that people should do it today. Mostly was saying that it seems more complex than the ways in which some people like to over simplify it. Are all the white people and black people who like Tracy Morgan's comedy being racist because he often portrays black people as buffoons, or as lazy or as excessively sexual... plus he seems to celebrate those things? I'm guessing that some of them are racist, but that the majority of them are not. From what I've seen, he is as popular among black people as white people. But he regularly contributes to negative stereotypes of black people. On top of that, I don't find him very funny. But he's very popular. In 100 years, the majority of people will probably assume that most fans of Morgan were racist. That said, I do think that a majority of people in the 1800s and early 1900s were racist to varying degrees, yet maybe some of them weren't as heavily racist as we assume today.
@@DailySource The legacy of Minstrelsy is still with us.
@@DailySource yes, racism is very "complex" and the minstrel shows are positive and humorous. i wish the potatoe famine would've cleared the entire board of your kind.
@@DailySource I love how you brought in your Lucky Charm background to suggest that the Irish stereotypes were/are on par with ramifications to centuries-old stereotypes of Black Americans. However, you couldn't help yourself to portray blacks as being perpetrators to the diaspora of blacks; a apples and oranges argument.
Here comes the " HUMANS" spiel as universal-any attempt for whites to avoid accountability and chalk it up to "human nature" MODELED after Europeans- LMAO
Wow great video. I’m white, live in America but I was born in Ireland. I seem like I’m from here so no one really ever asks. I am always shocked to learn how racist America was or is. Sometimes I see things in culture and I feel like it’s anti-white… but if you just look at how prevalent this stuff is. I mean aunt jemima! It’s wild. America is for sure racist still at a corporate level
individual level, systemic level. White culture is racism, theft, violence, subjugation, CONTROL and POWER.
You're fun to listen to, fun to watch ❤️❤️❤️
Can someone explain me, why the Jim Crow law exisisted next to the law that made everyone equal? Doesn't made the JC law illigal?
One would think ....
I long for a world where we have multicolored faces in plays.
Us too!
What about in the highways in Pennsylvania and Virginia a company called Sheetz is still doing that go check it out
Great doc, thanks for this from Italy
Absolutely wonderful, thank you!!!
I agree they never should have gotten rid of Uncle Ben's wild rice, Aunt Jemima's syrup. That is part of American history.
I hope that they will start to teach this history in schools all across America to better understand their country's past.
they are at my school art and social justice
Mrs Butterworth was English.
Who's looking back? I saw all of this in 1980's in Alabama but I had to sneak around as I was raised in the IBLP (duggar cult) where we were not allowed to see TV, film, radio, listen to music with a beat (it was too black), cut my hair, wear pants, speak in a church......
In the UK there was a TV show called **the black and white minstrel show**......it ran from 1958-1978....it was bizarre......
So much information!
Thanks for watching!
@@VanguardTheaterCompany i watched because my teacher is too scared to teach us.
Not going to lie this shit is pretty good. They should bring this back. 👴🏻
That guy in the taste mask isn't in black face, it's legit black man Jerry Rice, LOL!
4:40
I've always thought that it was poetic justice that Thomas Rice ended up destitute at the end of his life.
Thank you much much. Ok peace & thanks 🙏🤠
You forgot the great comedy show Amos and Andy. Now that was a funny show.
I just listened to the actual "Jim Crow" song. Something like "I wheel about and turn about and jump Jim Crow". It was interesting from a cultural perspective. That this terrible song was so popular that it was culturally significant for over 150 years. It seemed to be about wanting to get married for the most part.
But yeah, there was probably a lot in it that went over my head, but the rest, was pretty obviously horrible. As a song though, it was rubbish. It went back to the chorus way to often, and musically wasn't catchy. There was no hook to it. Very low effort, but it was racist, and I guess that was just enough back then.
I see the same thing today in music.
America cannot help if the stereotypes were true of that time.
Much of rap is a modern day minstrel show. It’s black performers in blackface.
Very true. Rappers promulgate inner-city stereotypes. I think the rap industry is secretly used to bring melaninated people further down in society.
Much love to you :)
This ended on a positive high note.
I'm very interested in the productions centering on Ray Charles and Jelly Roll Morton pictured in the flyers behind the narrator. This video and those are a great introduction to VTC's existence for me. Minstrel shows were a symptom of a genuine American love for (American) black music that has just gotten stronger through the years. They also allowed countless ex slaves and their offspring to be able to travel and earn livings that improved their lots from farm work days. Vanguard deserves credit in a time when this history is often being buried (grotesque as it may seem today)
We’re born a victim ✊🏾😭 & it pays 💰
Loved this video!
Great video
Thank you. So glad you appreciate it.
Thank you, thank you,thank you!!!
honestly i'd rather frolic than think lol
Like im mixed (half black and half white) and i'd rather lollygag too but I LOVE social studies it my fav subjects. I have white and black personalities...
imagine making products today and not including black people on them, we would be called racist's , so why are we taking off aunt jemina off the maple syrup ?
Excellent
Well said! Can’t wait for this beloved art form to return with a bang!
Entertaining 👏 👏👏
The music in minstrel shows is really cool. It's a shame that they took something beautiful and used it for evil. Oh wait I take that back. That Jim Crow song sucks hard core.
As an Art form - zhondra - and is as Classic as Emit the Clown.
4:54 can someone explain that photo please?
It's cultural appropriation.
@@rahbeeuh actually it’s blackface but also that too
@@Nia-po3fr What? There's no blackface involved. It's Miley Cyrus culturally appropriating Black culture.
Great video! Lot facts
I love it . Same as when the Wayans brothers did White Chicks . It's funny .
As a white person, I want to announce that I am a fervent connoisseur of the art of “whiteface.” I absolutely love to see black people put white makeup on and try to stereotype Europeans. Everyone should watch Eddie Murphy’s SNL rendition of putting on white-face in “White like me.” I would pay money to see Steve Harvey do whiteface. It would be friggin’ hilarious 😆
Who supported Jim Crow laws? DEMOCRATS
Hip hop is a minstrel show 😅
I was very interested in the claim made about the underlying context of Oh Susanna. The best I could get was from ChatGPT, which wrote this: The interpretation of "Oh! Susanna" as a song about a black slave desperately trying to get back to their loved ones is not widely supported by historical evidence or scholarly consensus. Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna" was written in 1847, and while it does reflect some elements of the minstrel tradition, its lyrics do not explicitly mention slavery or the experiences of enslaved individuals.
ChatGPT was concerned at the nature of my question, and, having quoted a few lines of the song wrote:
This content may violate our Terms of Use or usage policies.
Did we get it wrong? Please tell us by giving this response a thumbs down.
It's pretty widely accepted as being written for minstrelsy. It was meant to be sung by a white man in blackface, and the contradictory lyrics were intended to poke fun at Black people. "Some of the traveler's non-sensical observations might be dismissed as good-natured fun ("It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry; the sun so hot I froze to death"), but the broken English in which these lines were sung was meant to suggest that the singer was more simple than clever ("It rain'd all night de day I left"). If there was any doubt in the beginning, the verses that followed made it clear that the narrator was hugely ignorant:
I jumped aboard de telegraph,
And trabbelled down de ribber,
De Lectrie fluid magnified,
And killed five hundred N----s.
De bullgine bust, de horse run off,
I really thought I'd die;
I shut my eyes to hold my breath,
Susanna, don't you cry. www.shmoop.com/study-guides/oh-susanna/meaning.html ; ua-cam.com/video/-lhBYeufe1c/v-deo.html
Delve into stereotypes. The definition, examples, false exaggerations with common underlying truths...
Thank you Queen ❤️💚💚
Lots of minstrel performers were black. Too much politics and not enough history.
10:17 😂😂😂😂
“I sure is”
That sh’t is funny
I don’t get it 🤨🤷♂️😒.
@@kaylemathewcomendador6964
....sure ya don’t
@@thereal9118 And what? Saying I don’t get the racist joke isn’t really helping your (or is it “you’re”?) case.
@@kaylemathewcomendador6964
Racist? 😂😂 Heard an elderly beautiful black woman saying that, the other day at the Piggly Wiggly, chief.
@@thereal9118 I have no idea what’s a “Piggly Wiggly Chief” or whatever that is, so you must be making that up 😂🤡😂. Sorry, but you can’t justify a racist joke 🤷♂️.
"not so fun" side note. ; )
Wow, you are really good at cherry-picking the worst possible examples and utterly ignoring the black performers of the era! Thanks so much for keeping racism alive and well, it seems that is actually your goal.
Minstrel shows was/is brought to you by j.j.w
#DisneyDiva ❤
Black face is a dead god Erebus, Proteus ⚘🌚👍Rest in the good news ⚘ Okay bye
Wheel about and turn about and do just so.
Every time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.
Victim consciousness should be avoided at all costs.
happy,musical, people
Black face is peak comedy
Black face only represented blacks not browns that true there's no equivalent Hispanic suntjermima
There’s a reason why brown was not used as much as black. It would not have been as comical, entertaining, and it would not generated as much money. Look at Will Ferrell’s attempt at Mexican satire “Casa de mi padre.” It barely broke even. Black satire will always be the most entertaining- it can’t be beat.
blackface is very good. Blackface is very nice and is not a problem. Welcomme blackface ! Out woke and wokisme !!!
Okay, but because I draw blacks the 30s way does not mean i have anything against them, it's what I grew up with. The problem is not the fact we include blacks, it's the fact with don't include them.
nah, the problem is that you're doing racist drawings. fix yourself.
@@Scopsel You don't even know Tom and Jerry.