Beyond Blackface: Racial Pride and Prejudice in Shuffle Along
An Ugly Legacy...with A Complex History
Blackface performance is one of America's unique dramatic and musical creations--but one with a troubled history of perpetuating racist stereotypes. In its stereotyped portrayl of Blacks as less-developed creatures than their white counterparts--who had darkened skin, spoke in broken English, and wore ragged clothes--it helped reinforce the views of those who viewed Blacks as an inferior race. At the same time, many of the white performers who gained success in Blackface expressed admiration for their Black sources, and professed that they were helping to promote Black music to a broader audience. And, ironically, after the Civil War, Blacks themselves took up Blackface performance as a way of "making it" in the entertainment world.
Today we can acknowledge that Blackface--for both white and Black Americans as creators, performers, and audiences--was more complicated than you might first expect. This website will take one example--the hit 1921 musical Shuffle Along, the first musical to be produced on Broadway by all-Black creators, actors, and producers--to delve more deeply into Blackface's complicated history and legacy.
Shuffle Along: An Innovative Musical Show
Shuffle Along went beyond Blackface stereotypes to present a wide variety of Black characters, in contemporary clothing, and without Blackface makeup. It portrayed true romantic love between its two lead characters--an unheard of plot line for an all-Black show. When Shuffle Along's creators appeared in newspaper photos promoting the show, they were depicted as sophisticated, modern Black writers and performers, sporting tuxedos, just like their white counterparts.
