Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Object |
Negative, Glass Plate |
Description |
Group of seventeen women (possible men dressed in drag) wearing blackface makeup with instruments posed on stage. Front row seated, back row standing. Presumably the cast of a minstrel show. |
Information |
Blackface minstrel shows were widely popular in Vermont and rural New York State until the 1960s. The costumes, makeup, songs, and storylines were all based on racist stereotypes that were commonly held among white American society at the time. They depicted Black people as lazy, hypersexual, ignorant, cowardly, and superstitious thieves. Overtly racist and demeaning stereotypes encouraged white working-class audiences to see themselves as superior and aided in the entrenchment and institutionalization of racism. |
Credit line |
Gift of Victoria Green |
Catalog Number |
1985.259.2284 |