by: Joniel Acosta
depiction of black face in the 19th century (FRANCES BENJAMIN JOHNSTON / LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
There might be a cloud around the history of blackface. No one really seems to understand why it is wrong and why it is disgusting to see. Now if people know how wrong it truly is then we wouldn’t have as many incidents with it now. Such as the Mummers parade incident on New Year's Day where members of a car in the parade was accused of wearing blackface. Most just don’t understand because it is not taught unless Black History Month rolls around and it is taught for a month and then everyone forgets again. Which is a major problem. The fact that we don't teach it regularly leads into problems like this where people are grown up into ignorance and don’t understand how this act can be offensive.
Blackface is a severely offensive and rude act to the African American Community. It’s basically a show of power over us and make us seem like mindless less than human creatures. Because of how blackface was portrayed to the population creating a stigma that is still alive today. A stigma that black males and females are dumb. Zip coon is one of many “black” characters that were shown in plays and helped create this stigma because of the fact that he was “a flamboyant-dressed man who used sophisticated words incorrectly.” It might not seem that way based off pure observation. However if you understood the history behind it you would understand why this is such a horrendous act.
Thomas Dartmouth Rice, an actor of New York City single handedly caused decades of prejudice and racism. This racism was seen as a joke because most were not taught about how it was meant to be a way to put others up and keep us down. Even other races such as the Jews and Irish were a part of it they said “They did it to authenticate their whiteness,” he says. “It was the same as saying ‘We can become the other and mock the other and assert our superiority by dehumanizing the other.” The fact that even other minorities treated us worse to be seen well just shows how corrupt and disgusting it was. It was also used as entertainment that most whites fell in love with. so no one saw it as a very big problem.
There were three major characters Thomas made that made him a very famous man. Those being “Jim Crow,” a rural dancing fool in tattered clothing; the “Mammy,” an overweight and loud mother figure; and “Zip Coon,” a flamboyant-dressed man who used sophisticated words incorrectly.” Him putting down blacks made him very popular and created a whole part that can be added to any play to make it more popular. The public loved to make fun and put us down because the way they saw us was no different than dogs for work and entertainment. Even decades after these characters were shown to the public all we were shown and seen as was loud stupid fools.
Black face has long and very disgusting past that the masses need to learn about. Everything in this article doesn’t even scratch the surface of every atrocity. However, this is just a taste of the wrong that is in this whole controversy and why it is frowned upon.
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