The Blackface Tradition
Defining Blackface
Originally, the term “blackface” was applied specifically to performers who used burnt cork or other darkening agents to darken their skin to portray characters of African origin. Historian John Strausbaugh suggests that the tradition dates back as early as the mid-15th century and there had been European white actors who appeared in blackface to portray a variety of African roles over the centuries.[1] However, since the 1830s, blackface has referred specifically to a tradition of performances in which white “delineators” imitated—often in a comic and crude manner—the dialect, music, and dance of African-Americans. In the later 19th century, “real” African-Americans had the opportunity to appear on the minstrel stage, and they were marketed as “true delineators” of these characters, even though they continued to base their work on the same racist stereotypes. A complete history of blackface performance can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface. It includes a good bibliography of other sources.
[1] Strausbaugh, John. Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult and Imitation in American Popular Culture. NY: Jeremy Tarcher, 2006.
Character Stereotypes: Jim Crow and Zip Coon
However, blackface goes beyond merely the dark makeup (often made from burnt cork) used by the original white minstrels. Besides makeup, characters and situations based on crude stereotypes were used by these performers. White dancer/comic Thomas Rice developed the character of Jim Crow, the happy-go-lucky Blackman who was always singing and dancing, who would be happy to continue living on the “ol’ plantation” if he could. A country-bumpkin character, Jim Crow appeared in ragged clothes, apparent well-worn hand-me-downs from his social betters. Later this character’s name would be used to describe the oppressive segregation laws that followed the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Jim Crow's opposite was Zip Coon, representing the new urban population of free Blacks, who were stereotyped as social climbing strivers who wanted to appear educated—but were really just as much rubes as their country cousins. While seemingly better dressed and more urbane than his country cousin, Zip was still characterized as a "coon"--someone less than human, an animal, who can never be the white man's equal despite all of his pretensions.
Costumes and Visual Stereotypes
An important element of blackface minstrelsy was the use of costumes to reinforce the image of Blacks as being lower-class people. Many minstrel images were very disturbing in their portrayal of thick-lipped, dark-skinned “Negros” dressed in ragged clothes. These images were so popular that many survived to today--it was only within the last few years that Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima were retired from being popular advertising icons.
Another element of blackface was the use of “Negro dialect,” which combinined mispronounced and misused words, convoluted grammar, and nonsensical phrases--all to denigrate Blacks and portray them as being naive and unsophisticated. Ironically, many phrases that were created by minstrel performers to mock Black speech have entered our everyday vocabulary--and are celebrated today as being real Americanisms. This is another example of minstrelsy's conflicted legacy.
Behind the Minstrel Mask: Seeing Double
White minstrel performers often promoted themselves by showing themelves both in their "natural" (off-stage) and "blackface" (onstage) personas. It was as if they were reassuring their white audiences that--underneath the burnt cork--they were really just "regular" people. They also were emphasizing their skill in transforming themselves into "accurate" portrayers of Black characters. This is more evidence of the complicated relationship between the performers and their Black models, of both the white minstels' respect for the originals but also exaggeration and stereotyping of Black performers.
This sheet music featuring performer Earl Way is just one of hundreds of examples in which white minstrels contrasted their off and on-stage personas. This split image might have been intended to make their (white) audiences more comfortable.
Blacks in Blackface: The Surprising Success of Bert Williams
While minstrels were originally white men sporting Blackface makeup, after the Civil War there began to be opportunities for Black performers to appear in minstrel shows--as long as they maintained the same stereotypical characters and humor. Ironically, Black performers were successfully promoted as being more "authentic" because they were "real" Blacks. As you can see in this image of well-known comedian Bert Williams--who made the leap from minstrelsy to the Broadway stage--he wore dark makeup, exaggerated his facial features, and sported a squashed hat and shapeless coat--all minstrel tropes. Williams, who was of Jamaican heritage, was actually fair-skinned and--when off stage--sported a tuxedo.
Bert Williams's most famous song was "Nobody," which he also wrote. "Nobody" expresses both his frustration at the fact that he faced racial prejudice despite never having done anything wrong "to nobody"--and at the same time the fact that he has had to achieve success with the help of "nobody." Note his clear pronunciation of the lyrics and limited use of "de," "dem," "dose" or other Blackface dialectic--and the way his cackling laugh that underscores the lyrics reinforces his ambiguous feelings about being a Blackface performer, both embodying the idea of the happy-go-lucky minstrel but also the irony of his embodiment of this character. You can hear him perform it in this 1905 recording.
Blackface in Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along featured a mix of characters, relying on minstrel imagery for its two comic leads while having its other characters appear without blackface makeup and in contemporary clothing. We will delve more deeply into why the production featured Blackface even as it challenged its age-old stereotypes.