Minstrel: The Blackface Movement

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During the 19th century in America, white actors used to paint their faces black and would ridicule black people in Minstrel shows. Norm Sheehan stated that the blackface movement began as a popular movement that made fun of black people leading up to the American civil war. One of the common forms of racism during the 19th Century was The Blackface concept, which has been used over the years to perpetuate humiliating stereotypes of people of color. This showed that people who are not white are represented as “the other kinds” or “Lower class”. In reality, the true source of “Blackface” all has to do about “Power”. The white were mocking the African Americans by taking something important from them and using it for entertainment purposes.

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