zelmagludina-blog

[zelmagludina-blog]

Black facing

In this blog, I am going to be discussing how black facing, a widely historically known event has still been seen throughout our generation through social media platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr or any other easily assemble internet source. The purpose of this blog is to bring awareness to how black facing has been promoted throughout history and has traces of it still seen in today society that have been overshadowed by other events guided towards the general public. Blackface movement has been seen throughout history and thought to have been disappeared in the 2000s yet is purely masked by social media that presses on other topics that gain the general public eye and overshadows movements like black facing.

Black facing originated around the early 1830s and had really taken the general publics attention around the year 1845 when people began to perform mistral shows, musicals and wrote music that was orientated around black facing, the performers were most often white middle age men who changed the style of their language, movement, and overall character by painting their skin black in order to play the role of a black man/women primarily to entertain the middle age class. 

Black facing is a very important topic because it can influence one's life in a negative way by being surrounded by such immoral events that no human should ever experience. We need to take such events more importantly and bring justice to people that have to experience things like black facing in their daily life. In my research blog, I will be analyzing how all of these events have led to where black facing is now and how the society views it in the current age vs. how it was view back in 1800′s.

In a news article that was published on February 7th, 2019 a news report has released an image of Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam back in 1984 was spotted in a racist yearbook for Eastern Virginia Medical School he discussed how his values have changed since that time. He also does not plan to resign from his position yet he was later asked to resign from his position after the incident had come to be heard by more people. I believe it is outrageous how someone with a history of clear black facing could even become affiliated with the government, I thought there were stricter laws on the background check, especially for the government? Or was it because of previous family history that he was so easily accepted into becoming a governor?

The photo on the right shows an image of two men, one dressed in a KKK costume and the other is in blackface, the photo is taken from a 1984 yearbook of  Ralph Northam. He does not admit to which one was he said it was an irrelevant fact. Under the photo the quote “ There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world so I think I’ll have another beer”. The quote can be interpreted in many ways but my view on it is that he wanted to be like the general public, follow trends and fit in. People like Northam have taken positions in the government and have been a part of the society, with a background of black facing nobody should be allowed to have power over governmental issues dealing with society.

An article discussing the historical events that have had a major influence on black facing found on “Blackface!” Blackface! - Blackface History Prior to Minstrel Shows article states that Thomas Dartmouth “the father of American minstrelsy” performed song and dance routines in blackface in 1828 New York City. he was a widely known artist that really helped the growth of blackface throughout history.

In 1842 songwriter Daniel Decatur Emmett had devised a program of singing and dancing blackface. 1850’s minstrel shows developed into a standard format of three parts developed by Edwin Christy. There Are multiple different personas that have made an enormous impact on the blackface movement, each from a different aspect which combined made the blackface movement a normal, day to day aspect. There were no laws that had made blackfacing illegal and so black people had to be exposed to such unhuman instances throughout their life.

A current event that has made the headlines on December 15, 2018, was Prada's new collection which depicted blackface in their new collection. The figures were black and had large red lip monkeys. People believe such controversy would have never occurred if Prada had a more diverse workforce with having very few people of any other race then white working on their staff. Prada has made many apologies regarding this event but the collection and idea should have never been made in the first place.

Pradas collection had a very strong similarity to a “Three blackface masks Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture” It was a gift of the Collection of James M. Caselli and Jonathan Mark Scharer. The blackface mask has the same style as Prada's hoodies, with a black and red mouth. The similarities cannot be mistaken and Prada has crossed the line with releasing the 2018 collection, “When are you going to allow black folks to be decision-makers, to be something other than window dressing at your company, so you don’t have Sambo window dressing?” states a reporter. She had observed that most of the population that worked in the store had been of one race, and so no other cultural influences had been introduced which led to such outcomes.

A current event posted on November 24, 2018, shows a Video posted by a family-run hardware store in Ireland that had his skin painted black, the video was to promote Black Friday sales, not only is the painting in black he also waggles his tongue during the video resembling a savage look to add on to the black painted skin. These portrayals of African Americans were what created jezebel and uncle tom and others. Such events still occur in today's society and could be detrimental to ones mental health on how one views the world.

Rachel Dolezal a box braider extraordinaire who has recently changed her name to avoid going to trial for welfare fraud has agreed to pay over $9,000 in restitution and complete 120 hours of community service to avoid going on trial for welfare fraud. Rachel claims to have seen herself as black rather than white beginning with her childhood, even though both of her parents are fully white. Through all of the lies, she has been through she “has made multiple allegations that she’s been a victim”. Rachel has made multiple statements that she has “a huge issue with blackface” she also had mentioned in the article “that she wants to be photographed in the sun so that her skin looks darker”. It is one thing to want to have a more complex skin color and have your hair curly, Rachel Dolezal took it to another level by claiming to be black, receiving support from the government and many more.

Many factors influence the way black facing had originated, drawing from all of these sources, there is great history in black facing, and multiple factors have influenced the growth and evolution of such performances and how It had become a social norm throughout the years. Blackfacing is still seen in today's society and there are many structural aspects such as dialogic arrangements, character, narrative mechanics of blackface that became the dominant ways in which one represented blackness. There were many widely known people that greatly affected the mass entertainment of these performances throughout history and in today's society we see people that are involved in the government field have had an association with black facing.

From analyzing multiple sources that all involve a type of black facing, some direct and some indirect, we can see how any of these events could make an impact on someone's life. If events such as these went unnoticed they would end up growing and possibly shifting back into the way it used to be in the 1800s, social media is a powerful tool and people need to learn to utilize it to our best abilities and to grow as a society.

Methodological issues are associated with being socially acceptable and thought as humor. The methods that we could begin to establish in a society are to bring awareness and not undermine any morally wrong situations that could lead to trauma. methodologies involving racial differences could be viewed as a socially influenced, could lead back to colonialism involving power and control ones has upon someone else.

MLA citations 

“Blackface!” Blackface! - Blackface History Prior to Minstrel Shows, www.blackface.com/ blackface-history.htm

Barr, Sabrina. “Prada Issues Apology after Accusations over Blackface Imagery.”www.independent.co.uk/life-style/prada-blackface-racism-backlash-criticism-apology-statement-fashion-a8684636.html.

Rahim, Zamira. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-friday-2018-blackface-smyths-homevalue-ireland-racist-promotional-video-a8649841.html.

Hopper, Nate. “Rachel Dolezal, White Privilege and Appropriating Culture.” Time, Time, 20 Apr. 2017, time.com/4748965/rachel-dolezal-stranger-interview/.

Kelly, Caroline. “Northam Apologizes for 'Racist and Offensive' Costume.” CNN, Cable News Network, 7 Feb. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/northam-blackface-photo/ index.html.