The Daily OrangeBlackface makes its way to college campuses
By Joe Connolly
Posted: 11/14/03, 4:17 AM EST Section: News
Blackface is nothing new to the Syracuse University community.
An incident in 2002 involving a student dressed in blackface as Tiger Woods mirrors the recent incident this past Halloween, in which a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student dressed up as a "Pacific Islander." The student covered himself in dark body makeup, wore a grass skirt and carried a wooden staff.
But blackface incidents like the ones seen on the SU campus the past few years are far from an SU-exclusive phenomenon.
Colleges across the country have seen similar incidents in which students don black face paint and are then faced with a slew of controversy afterwards.
The reason for these inevitable backlashes, however, stems from blackface's history.
Blackface's first incarnation was as a staple of traveling minstrel shows in the Civil War Era.
"The origin of blackface goes back to traveling minstrel shows in the south, during the Civil War, post-Civil War period," said Joe Whelan, publications director for the Syracuse Stage.
At the time, white performers portrayed black characters by painting their faces and playing stereotypical roles as clumsy, clownish characters. Blackface translated easily into vaudeville shows and from there into early films, Whelan said. As the film industry developed, so did its ability to reach larger and larger audiences, and blackface was suddenly no longer a localized element but something the entire country could see.
One of the most controversial early films that utilized blackface was 1915's "The Birth of a Nation," which sparked riots across the country due to its depictions of the Ku Klux Klan as heroes fighting an invasion of blacks in the South. The film portrays white men in blackface, raping and pillaging townspeople in the South.
In recent times, blackface has been rehashed on college campuses across the nation because of students dressing in blackface costumes. Auburn University (Ala.), Oklahoma State, Union College (N.Y.) and the University of Mississippi have all had occurrences of students dressing up in blackface and portraying negative stereotypes in the past decade.
An incident in 2002 involving a student dressed in blackface as Tiger Woods mirrors the recent incident this past Halloween, in which a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student dressed up as a "Pacific Islander." The student covered himself in dark body makeup, wore a grass skirt and carried a wooden staff.
But blackface incidents like the ones seen on the SU campus the past few years are far from an SU-exclusive phenomenon.
Colleges across the country have seen similar incidents in which students don black face paint and are then faced with a slew of controversy afterwards.
The reason for these inevitable backlashes, however, stems from blackface's history.
Blackface's first incarnation was as a staple of traveling minstrel shows in the Civil War Era.
"The origin of blackface goes back to traveling minstrel shows in the south, during the Civil War, post-Civil War period," said Joe Whelan, publications director for the Syracuse Stage.
At the time, white performers portrayed black characters by painting their faces and playing stereotypical roles as clumsy, clownish characters. Blackface translated easily into vaudeville shows and from there into early films, Whelan said. As the film industry developed, so did its ability to reach larger and larger audiences, and blackface was suddenly no longer a localized element but something the entire country could see.
One of the most controversial early films that utilized blackface was 1915's "The Birth of a Nation," which sparked riots across the country due to its depictions of the Ku Klux Klan as heroes fighting an invasion of blacks in the South. The film portrays white men in blackface, raping and pillaging townspeople in the South.
In recent times, blackface has been rehashed on college campuses across the nation because of students dressing in blackface costumes. Auburn University (Ala.), Oklahoma State, Union College (N.Y.) and the University of Mississippi have all had occurrences of students dressing up in blackface and portraying negative stereotypes in the past decade.
