Blackface: A cultural history of a racist art form

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Published 2018-10-28

With the recent controversy over Megyn Kelley's remarks in which she questioned why wearing blackface on Halloween was offensive, "Sunday Morning" contributor and WCBS anchor Maurice DuBois looks at the long and complex history of white (and even black) performers painting their faces black. For more than 100 years, minstrel shows were a popular form of entertainment on stage and film, reducing an entire race of people to stereotypes. DuBois speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Margo Jefferson, and with Eric Lott, cultural historian and professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, about the complicated history of a racist theatrical form.

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All Comments (21)

@pilot4910 4 years ago

Everyone wanna be black till the cops show up
@tinymouse9821 4 years ago

it’s not just offensive, it’s creepy af
@KT-kd4zt 2 years ago

Even as a small child, I realized that this was rude, disrespectful, repulsive and disgusting when I saw an old movie on television. It was sickening and always will be!
@Kim.K.Edwards 9 months ago

Imagine dragging thousands of people from their homeland away from their families to enslave them to do forced labor that you don’t want to do yourself and turn around and called them “lazy?”🤢
@brittanycalhoun8568 4 years ago

They had black children in these plays. How horrible and humiliating
@bianca6762 4 years ago

this is disgusting. my skin color is not your costume.
@barbarjinks8170 7 months ago

You know it’s wrong when it is visually discomforting without even having to be explained.
@HealedByJesus20 2 years ago

Imagine how insane you have to be, to want to dress up as a caricature of the people you “hate.” While off stage, still berating them, beating them, MURDERING them like????? Insane!
@whoisevan9250 3 years ago

I can’t believe people say “This is not racist. It’s an art form” smh 🤦‍♀️
@itsspatrica1119 4 years ago

y’all wanna be black but don’t wanna be treated black.
@aotoura224 2 years ago

This really needs to be taught in school, so many kids today see being black as a 'cool' or 'edgy' thing, so they try to copy us. But, they don't want to 'copy' the experience, or remember the history behind it.
@frenchyfrench5082 1 year ago

The fact it is tied to humor and light hearted moments is absolutely terrifying
@soxxrblx4764 4 years ago

Brown or white egg, we all have the same yolk.
@Stephen-ql8ce 4 years ago

Does black face creep or scare anyone else? I don’t understand how this was ever acceptable
@1gregoryknight 1 year ago

History of America is very dark.
@jaliciialake6189 1 year ago

It’s crazy because I remember being little and seeing a snippet and was legit scared to go to bed… and was scrubbing my skin to the point I literally would bruise… it’s creepy… and still prevalent whether in person or behind closed doors…
@CanelaBuns 4 years ago

And they mad about having a black Ariel 😒
@floraxxxx7150 4 years ago

Treat everybody the same no matter what skin ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
@Zaneykeys 9 months ago

Why wasn’t Jimmy Kimmel banned or fired for his blackface skits????
@angryCOMMguy 1 year ago

That last comment she makes is so under appreciated. This is history, when it is suppressed and censored it only comes back. All these videos should be on YouTube for everyone to see how far we have come!