Darkest America : black minstrelsy from slavery to hip-hop

Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen investigate the complex history of black minstrelsy, adopted in the mid-nineteenth century by African American performers who played the grinning blackface fool to entertain black and white audiences. We now consider minstrelsy an embarrassing relic, but once blacks and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Taylor, Yuval.
Contributors: Austen, Jake.
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : W.W. Norton, ©2012.
Edition:1st ed.
Subjects and Genres:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Summary: Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen investigate the complex history of black minstrelsy, adopted in the mid-nineteenth century by African American performers who played the grinning blackface fool to entertain black and white audiences. We now consider minstrelsy an embarrassing relic, but once blacks and whites alike saw it as a black art form--and embraced it as such. And, as the authors reveal, black minstrelsy remains deeply relevant to popular black entertainment, particularly in the work of contemporary artists like Dave Chappelle, Flavor Flav, Spike Lee, and Lil Wayne. Darkest America explores the origins, heyday, and present-day manifestations of this tradition, exploding the myth that it was a form of entertainment that whites foisted on blacks, and shining a sure-to-be controversial light on how these incendiary performances can be not only demeaning but also, paradoxically, liberating.
Physical Description: xvi, 364 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-331) and index.
ISBN: 9780393070989
0393070980