Blackface Behind Barbed Wire

Gender and Racial Triangulation in the Japanese American Internment Camps Emily Roxworthy

THE CONFUSER: Come on, you can impersonate a Negro better than Al Jolson, just like you can impersonate a Jap better than Marlon Brando. [...] Half-Japanese and half-colored! Rare, extraordinary object! Like a Gauguin! — Velina Hasu Houston, Waiting for Tadashi ([2000] 2011:9)

“Fifteen nights a year Cinderella steps into a pumpkin coach and becomes queen of Holiday Inn,” says Marjorie Reynolds as she applies burnt cork to her face [in the 1942 filmHoliday Inn]. The cinders transform her into royalty. — Michael Rogin, Blackface, White Noise (1996:183)

During World War II, young Japanese American women performed in blackface behind barbed wire. The oppressive and insular conditions of incarceration and a political climate that was attacking the performers’ own racial status rendered these blackface performances somehow exceptional and even resistant. 2012 marked the 70th anniversary of the US government’s deci- sion to evacuate and intern nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast. The mass incarceration of Issei and Nisei in 1942 was justified by a US mindset that conflated every eth- nic Japanese face, regardless of citizenship status or national allegiance, with the “face of the

TDR: The Drama Review 57:2 (T218) Summer 2013. ©2013 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 123

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124 Emily Roxworthy low interneesyokedtogetherbysharedpersecution. Although, aswewillsee, theseyoungNisei face behindbarbedwire, theseperformanceswereprimarilypresentedtoanaudienceoffel- by theUSgovernmenttorunJapanese American prisonsmayhavewitnessedthisblack- to conflationwithdominantblackfaceminstrelsy. Whilethewhiteadministratorsemployed gulation revealthesewartimegangurogirlsasmaterialsubjectsthatarestubbornlyresistant Arizona’s GilaRiverRelocationCenterwherethelensesofgirls’subcultureandracialtrian- face performanceswerestagedin1942atCalifornia’sSanta Anita Assembly Centerand face performancesthatfalloutsidetheblack-whitebinary. Two youngNisei­ continuity intoquestionandcallsuponscholarstoconductmorenuancedreadingsofblack- internees, particularlyyoungNiseiwomen, performedblackfaceinamannerthatcallsthis ment’s suspensionofcivillibertiessuspendedJapanese Americans betweentwonations US observerssuchasJohnG. Russell, ionarozealbrown, andJoe Wood objects thatseemedtobeyetanotherexampleofblackfaceminstrelsy’stransnationalimmortality. the performerstosubhumanprostitutes, andUSobserversexpressedalarmatextraordinary ticularly inJapanandtheUnitedStates. Vocal spokesmenfortheJapanesepatriarchycompared machines. These a postmodernversionoftheblackfacemaskcreatednotwithburntcorkbuttanning Japanese girlsdonningblackfaceonthefashionablestreetsof Tokyo’s Shibuyadistrict (American) faceandblackface. ent forcontemporaryobserversattemptingtoapprehendtherelationshipbetweenaJapanese in theintervening70years, theprecarioussemioticsofJapaneseethnicityareremarkablypres- enemy.” [email protected] Mother Courage-like mediarepresentationscontemporary ofwomenwhomotherinpublic. titled the Delta (arole-playing videogameaboutthecamps). Her current book-lengthproject istentatively honorable mention;andproject director oftheNEH-fundeddigitalhumanities prototype Drama in and World War Diego. She istheauthorof Emily Professor Roxworthy isAssociate ofTheatre and Dance atthe University of SanCalifornia, the National Archives and Records Administration) November 1942, at the Gila River Relocation Center, Rivers, Arizona. (Photo by Francis Stewart; of courtesy Figure 1. (previous page) Interned Japanese Americans in blackface march in the Harvest Festival Parade, 26 performance ofwhitenessacrossvastexpansesspaceandtime. precariousness ofJapaneseethnicitybutalsoontheassumptionanuninterrupted, continuous strelsy onstageandinfilm(ca. 1830–1930). Suchaconflationrestednotonlyonthesemiotic impersonating racistcaricaturesof African Americans duringtheextendedUSheydayofmin- these late20th-centuryganguro 2. 1. These precarioussemioticsproducedinternationaloutcryinthe1990swithexposureof blackface, and how the time he spent in Japan dispelled this assumption for him. Joe Wood’s candid essay “The Yellow Negro” (1997) relates his initial conflation of ganguro girls with racist US time concentration camps; two-thirds of the internees were Nisei US citizens. American-born second generation, whose US citizenship did not protect them from imprisonment in the war- to become citizens, and California’s Alien Land Laws forbade them from owning property. “Nisei” refers to the the immigrant generation from becoming naturalized US citizens. These longtime US residents were not allowed States before the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act that severely limited Asian immigration and prohibited “Issei” refers to the immigrant first generation of Japanese Americans, the majority of which came to the United At aliminalpointinspaceandtime Frankenmom: Behind theSpectacle ofCelebrity Mothers influenceon theAsian andexamines 1 While thisracistreadingoftheJapanese(American)facehasbeenwidelycondemned II (University ofHawai‘i Press, 2008),whichreceived theBarnard Hewitt Award ganguro (literally, “face black”)girlsstartledaudiencesaroundtheworld, par The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma: Racial Performativity girls withthewhite American menwhomadetheirfortunes — the wartimeinternmentcamps, wheretheUSgovern- 2 werequicktoconflate women’s black-

— — albeit Nisei - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 125 - - Americans Japanese 4 was converted from a WCCA WCCA a convertedwas from — Manzanar — especially across the expanse of 70 years of space and especially across the led in no small part by Japanese American women and chil- led in no small part by Japanese — —

over the camp administration’s decision to perform a search-and-seizure operation tar over the camp administration’s decision to as spectacular failures emptied of potential resistance. On the contrary, curiosity about contrary, On the emptied of potential resistance. as spectacular failures women’s blackface processes; as theatre and performance studies scholars we should rel- as theatre and performance studies women’s blackface processes; Before the US government imprisoned them in one of the 10 War Relocation Authority Relocation War in one of the 10 Before the US government imprisoned them Mainstream media accounts spectacularized this forced exodus and imprisonment as it Mainstream media accounts spectacularized 3 — —

5 center to a WRA camp in 1942, so most scholars count it as one of the 10 relocation centers instead. centers relocation 10 the of one as it count scholars most so 1942, in camp WRA a to center Shirley Jennifer Lim has documented the first Asian American sorority in the United States, Chi Alpha Delta, Delta, Alpha Chi States, United the in sorority American Asian first the documented has Lim Jennifer Shirley in Branch, Southern California, of University the at students American Japanese two by founded was which conservative the organization, part heteronormative intrinsically an of “though argues, persuasively Lim As 1928. within structures racialized to hidden attention called and visible made nonetheless Delta Alpha Chi of women (2006:13). nation-state” democratic supposedly the generally this war, the of duration the for camps in be would they internees told the US government Although many closed government the that fact the and programs leave various of because case the be to out turn not did 1945. in August surrendered Japan before centers relocation these of one but all, centers in assembly 19 were there Technically, On 4 August 1942, US military police declared martial law for three days at Santa Anita after declared martial law for three days at Santa US military police August 1942, On 4 3. 4. 5. had to report for several months to one of 18 Wartime Civilian Control Agency (WCCA) cen- Agency Civilian Control Wartime 18 had to report for several months to one of ters.

Girls’ Subculture I am discussing here starred young Nisei While both of the instances of internee blackface by the 35 Girls’ Clubs at the Santa “Southern Jamboree” August 1942 staging of a the women, all-female Assembly Center explicitly occurred within the context of self-segregated, Anita for a girls’ subculture to develop behind barbed social groups that offered the opportunity wire. ish the process of wrestling with these signs at least as much as we relish the analysis of theat- with these signs at least as much as ish the process of wrestling in this case, observers with, archival photos) that assault contemporary rical remains (such as These theat- by black makeup. of Japanese (American) faces marked decontextualized images themselves rical remains often pose time ontology and efficacy of young failure encourages a consideration of the the productivity of this that mirrors the liminal behind barbed wire in a state of suspension Nisei women’s blackface American incarceration itself. status of Japanese - by popular cul representations circulated hegemonic blackface often inspired by women were - such mass circula were far removed from in the camps own cultural productions their ture, Anita and women at Santa young blackface, mimicry of dominant of enacting naïve Instead tion. agency and mock their own tactical barbed wire to proclaim used blackface behind Gila River enact- close analysis of these Nuanced, and the United States. of both Japan the racial traditions of the young “products” performative failure posed by the reveals the spectacular ments also Nisei ­ ity gamely submitted. Perhaps the most infamous of these WCCA assembly centers was the Perhaps the most infamous of these ity gamely submitted. Arcadia, in Anita Racetrack at the famed Santa one that imprisoned more than 18,000 people whitewashed Although the military had hastily from March through October 1942. California, the stench of manure and hay Anita’s horse stalls for conversion to internee housing, Santa considered an enemy race that deserved the same remained to remind internees that they were semiotics of an internationally celebrated horse track were the In addition, treatment as animals. which the US media Anita, of human beings at Santa transferred wholesale to the incarceration The rather than a serious breach of the Constitution. again treated as an entertaining spectacle in propaganda photographs that often fea- spectacularization of internees was also evidenced 2). trivializing poses of compliance (fig. tured female bodies in nonthreatening and the escalation of internee protests dren the As Brian Masaru Hayashi points out, geting internees possessing so-called contraband. (WRA) camps for what they were told would be the duration of the war, (WRA) camps for what they were told would minor as if it was a holiday excursion to which a suspicious unfolded over the course of 1942, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

126 Emily Roxworthy at California Berkeley) Berkeley Bancroft Library. of the Bancroft (Courtesy Library, University of Evacuation and Resettlement, Volume 63, Section H, WRA no. B-444, UC by Clem Albers. War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Anita Park Race Track assembly center, Arcadia, 6 California, April 1942. Photo Figure 2. Internee Lily Okuru poses with a statue of Seabiscuit at the Santa from strictparentingandpatriarchal notionsoftraditionalJapanesefemininitythathadpre- sight andwithouttheconstant labor offamilybusinesses. Likewise, manyNisei girlswerefreed active subjectsinpublicrealms. They wereforthefirsttimewithouttheirhusbands’ over ment manyIsseiwomenenjoyed atransformationfrommarginalizedwivesandmothersto ily separationswereandasoppressive astheconditionsatallcampswere, during the intern- from therestoftheirfamiliesinternedin WCCA and WRA camps. As wrenchingasthesefam- arrested bytheFBI, andsubsequentlyimprisonedinDepartment ofJustice(DOJ)sites, away American communities. After PearlHarbor, hundredsofIsseimenwerelabeled “enemy aliens,” Japanese policiesdisempoweredIsseimenwhowereformerly thepatriarchalheadsofJapanese of femaleyouthempowermentinthecamps, inlargepart becausetheUSgovernment’santi- ing inthewakeofthirdwavefeminism, youngNiseiwomen enjoyedamuchearliermoment the authenticityofrecent “Girl Power” movement thatyoungwomenseemtobeenjoy- center ing Santa Anita’s timeasaninternmentcampestablished thesegenderedorganizationsatthe the campnewspaperandscaleoftheirSouthernJamboree eventandotherrallieshelddur benevolence oftheSanta Anita internment(fig. 3). Theprominenceofthese35girls’clubsin of theNiseifemalebodyinpropagandaphotographsUSgovernmentusedtoclaim cliques, theseinternedyoungwomenwereassertingamoreactiverolethantheobjectified 16), theGammas(17–18), andtheDeltas(19–21). Byorganizingthemselvesintofemale-only down intofouragegroupsnamedafterGreeksororities:the Alphas (12–14), theBetas(15– (1942), theGirls’ClubDivisionconsistedof35organizationsyoungNiseiwomenbroken all-clubs rallyatthecamp. According tothecamp’snewspaper,Pacemaker theSantaAnita played instrumentalroles, theSanta Anita Girls’ClubDivisionstagedtheSouthernJamboree dren Less thantwoweeksaftertheseactsofantigovernmentresistanceinwhichwomenandchil- — — a notoriouslyapoliticaldemographicinstereotypicalaccountsofJapanesesociety rather thanonthemargins — of camplife. While girlhoodstudiesscholarsdebate (Tsumagari pant toseewhatwastaken” without allowingtheoccu- things frompeople’shouses people’s moneyandalsoremove police hadthenervetosteal ing thefactthat “some ofthe and childrenwerealsoprotest- their fellowresisters, thewomen addition toprovidingcover the assemblycenter(102). In military policeinotherpartsof government administratorsand launched protestsagainstUS of otherSanta Anita prisoners dren werecreating, thousands distraction thewomenandchil- Meanwhile, capitalizingonthe of theirbarracks” (2004:102). police force’scontrabandsearch against theInteriorSecurity trative officetofilecomplaints dren gatheredattheadminis- three hundredwomenandchil- “between onehundredfiftyto Santa Anita riotstartedwhen

1942a). — -

- Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 127 “Li’l Abner” refers to the epon- Abner” “Li’l 7 Figure 3. Two teenage girls engaged in what the government caption called called caption government the what in engaged girls teenage Two 3. Figure The assembly center. Track Race Anita Santa the at dancing” “impromptu transferred be later would evacuees that informedcaption readers government Albers. Clem by Photo duration.” the “for centers Authority Relocation War to and Evacuation Japanese-American of Photographs Authority Relocation War Bancroft Berkeley UC B-441 no. WRA G, Section 59, Volume Resettlement, CaliforniaBerkeley) at of University Library, Bancroft (Courtesy The of Library. gesture Arguably, Arguably, 6 as men and women with minds, wills, and voices,” the social, political, and cultural lives of of lives cultural and political, the social, voices,” and wills, minds, with women and men as —

Benson Tong points out the need for scholars to bring the subjectivity and influence of Japanese American chil- American Japanese of influence and subjectivity the bring to scholars for need the out points Tong Benson internment of shelves as Even focus. sharper into camps the in interned girls) (especially adolescents and dren are Americans history “‘re-vision’ to attempted Japanese the that so have 1960s the since produced studies subjects deemed (2004:4). shadows the in remained have minors internee (Arcadia, Center Assembly Anita Santa Division, Club Girls’ 1942:3–4, August 17 Jingles,” “Jamboree California. Angeles, Los Museum, National American Japanese Collection, Breed Clara 93.75.31JB, California), In a letter home, former San former In a letter home, 6. 7. of the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag, the idea for the performances billed under the title Allegiance to the US flag, of the Pledge of American began with a much more carnivalesque attitude toward (white) “Southern Fun!” Division newslet- As the organizers of the Jamboree put it in the Girls’ Club national identity. the club presidents announced the call for acts to be placed on when ter two months earlier, ‘Oo-sol- one heard voices singing in this Center, “Seemingly from everywhere the rally’s bill, ‘It’s trying to imitate the gruff voice of a man saying o-mi-ooooooo’ or a high feminine voice ‘Perhaps that’s the Summertime in Dogpatch One may have thought amoosin’ but confoosin’. Abner!” Lil although it may not have sounded a bit like skit,’ then, the public flourishing of public flourishing the then, Clubs at this 35 Nisei Girls’ history could only moment in behind barbed have happened was a rela- and the result wire, subculture tively powerful girls’ critique that could be seen to - dominant pressures ema nating from both traditional hegemonic Japanese culture and US culture. Anita Girls’ Diegan and Santa Tsumagari Club member Fusa 1942 August wrote that the Southern Jamboree rally was “something like the girls’ hi-jinx claiming the racetrack at school,” space as the grounds for a carni- valesque suspension of order in which the young women acted out disobedience rather than propriety Although (1942b). the day’s festivities began with the solemn nationalist ­ viously relegated them to pri- viously relegated spaces. domestic vate, ymous character in early 20th-century cartoonist Al Capp’s syndicated comic strip (1934– Al Capp’s syndicated comic strip ymous character in early 20th-century cartoonist Abner embodies Appalachian Li’l The later adapted for a 1940 film of the same name. 1977), “amoosin’ but confoosin’” is one of and South, the rural white demographic of the Mountain Abner as their tongue-in-cheek Li’l With the title character’s ignorant-sounding catchphrases. at least one instance of blackface performance the Girls’ Club’s variety show featured muse, songs that required the complicit enact- and many musical acts from the minstrel repertoire, that in the 1940s Rivero has argued “black voice.” Rivero has analyzed as M. Yeidy ment of what Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

128 Emily Roxworthy sympathetic onlytotheextent that theyknewtheirplaceandstayedinit. IftheGirls’ Clubper Nonetheless, thesesentimental songsromanticizedaSouthernracialorderinwhichblacks were 1848 withtheirrelatively “sympathetic treatment” ofimaginedblackcharacters (151;159). foolish behavior” ofimaginedblackness, thetragic minstrelsongsgaineddominanceafter minstrel songssucceededby “playing especiallyonexaggerated physicalcharacteristicsand that haveplagued American societyeversince” (1996:149). According to Winans, whilecomic egory thatreliedon “heavy ridicule” of African Americans and “created stereotypesofblacks Robert Winans identifiesasrelativelybenigncomparedtothe “antisentimentalandcomic” cat- These songsallconformedtothe “sentimental andtragic” categoryofminstrelsongsthat the minstrel-dialectversionofclassicUSfolksong “I’ve Been Working ontheRailroad.” tion.” Swanee River,” anotherminstrelstandardfeaturing “darkies” and “longin’ fordeoldplanta- was echoedbyStephenFoster’s “Old FolksatHome,” alsoknownas “(Way DownUponthe) lost plantation. OntheSanta Anita sing-alongprogram, theproslaverysentimentalityof “Dixie” Minstrels; thesong’slyricsaresungfromperspectiveofafreedblackslavenostalgicfor Emmett, founderofthefirstblackfaceminstreltroupeinUnitedStates, the Virginia War andapopularenduringsong. “Dixie” waswrittenbyIrish American DanielDecatur ticipate. Songsincluded “Dixie,” theunofficialanthemofConfederacyduringCivil Southern Songs!” whoselyricsweredistributedbeforehandsofellowinterneescouldpar blackface/voice: the “Jamboree Jingles” programcontainedaparticipatorysing-alongof “Ole dered andracializedbodyoftheNiseigirlperformers. incarceration, andtheperformativemachineryofblackface/voicewasdemystifiedbygen- Southern JamboreeatSanta Anita wascontinuallydisruptedbythecontextofperformers’ a certainsoutherncommodity,” namelyslaveryitself(1993:60). Any escapepromised bythe economic anxietiesaroundracializedlabor, performedblackness “ultimately derives[...]from strel performerspromisedtodelivertheblackfacecommodityasanescapistspectaclesoothe and otherexpropriatedperformancesofblackness. As EricLottremindsus, whilewhitemin- and throughyoungwomen’sbodiesdemystifiedthecommodityfunctionpromisedbyblackface sion, misogynyanddrag” (1996:28). Producingthesemythsandmelodiesbehindbarbedwire course ofUSminstrelsy, whatMichaelRogincallsblackface’s “male bondingandracialexclu- melodies fromdominantUSculture. However, theseactressesalsosubvertedthegendereddis- acters; instead, manyofthevarietyshow’sNiseiperformancesrecycledprivilegedmythsand Puerto Rico, explicitcritiqueswerenotplacedinthemouthsofSanta Anita actresses’char performance presenting analienatingperformanceofblackface/voiceratherthanattemptingamoreillusory August 1942parodyofracerelationsintheUSSouth. of protestsandmartiallaw, wouldhaveinfusedheightenedantigovernmenttensionintothe that thetimingofSouthernJamboree, whichtookplaceduringthefalloutafterthreedays to criticizeJapanesenationalismandgenderinequality, butfornowIwouldliketoemphasize phobic versionsofUSnationalism. Niseiperformersalsomayhaveusedtheseparodiccodes shorthand for “hillbillies” thatservedasametonymtocritiquetraditionallynativistandxeno- parodic codesthatdenigratedtheignorance, backwardness, andpovertyof “Appalachia” deployed “blackface andblackvoice” nottoembodyanostalgicvisionoftheUSSouthbutas space ofaUSconcentrationcamp, youngNiseiwomenperformingintheSouthernJamboree the oppressionofworkingclass” (2005:25). At roughlythesametime, inthepseudocolonial tected politicalmasqueradeforcriticizingU.S. colonialism, thePuertoRicangovernment, and and ’50sPuertoRicanactorRamónRiverotransformed “blackface andblackvoice[into]pro-

8. The audiencewasalsoimplicatedintheSouthernJamboree’salienatingperformanceof In theSouthernJamboree’scarnivalesquespace, theinterneeperformersmightbeseenas “Jamboree Jingles,” 3–4. 8 The Girls’ClubsalsosangFoster’s “Camptown Races” and “Oh! Susanna,” alongwith in blackface/voice. UnlikeRivero’sblackface/voiceperformancesinmid-century

— - a - - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 129 - and a black “mammy” figure in profile “mammy” and a black — a drawing that bears an uncanny resemblance to — These remains of the Santa Anita performance festi- These remains of the Santa 9 Figure 4. The program for the Southern Jamboree featured a racist racist a featured Jamboree Southern the for program The 4. Figure inspection, closer upon who, child “pickaninny” a of caricature to resemblance striking a bears and blackface wearing be to appears Roxworthy) (Courtesyad. Emily of Freeze Picanniny infamous the essence of minstrelsy”: the burlesquing of white culture (161). minstrelsy”: the burlesquing essence of real in other words, as both in other words,

—

That “if,” however, is a rather large contingency. The posing of this contingency is predi- this contingency is The posing of large contingency. is a rather however, “if,” That A digitized copy of the Southern Jamboree program is available at www.janm.org/collections/item/93.75.31JB/ www.janm.org/collections/item/93.75.31JB/ at available is program Jamboree Southern the of copy digitized A 4). (image 9. cated on the understanding that the Santa Anita Girls’ Clubs operated on the subcultural level, level, on the subcultural Clubs operated Anita Girls’ the Santa understanding that cated on the hidden and unresolved in “contradictions which remain resolvable the rendering visible and contain their own underlying con- But most subcultures (Cohen 1972:23). the parent culture” and aesthetic codes of the domi- that they must reproduce the ideological namely tradiction, girls’ in the case of many Moreover, to make them manifest as problems. nant culture in order the patriarchal imperative to to which young women have internalized the degree subcultures, power dictate how legible these gaze and their relative lack of economic perform for the male Kinsella puts it in her analysis of As Sharon to the outside world. subcultural protests become rooted in the same ideologi- “radical girls’ style is demonstrably Japan, the ganguro craze in as easy to observe the Nisei girls’ and it is just (2005:154), of its critics” cal framework as that that the radically disen- being pulled back into the ideological framework use of blackface/voice Club performance appears as both The Girls’ set out to burlesque. franchised female internees ideology and a submission to the dominant appeal of a rebellion against a US tradition of racist performed blackness as a com- modity what Michel de Certeau calls and what he calls a “tactic” a De Certeau explains “strategy.” as opposed to strat- that tactics, can claim no ownership of egies, or control of production, space, authorship of system; tactics can “make do” and “make use” only by insinuating themselves into dominated spaces and oppres- While sive systems (1984:29). manipu- “tactics can only use, and divert these spaces,” late, “art de Certeau claims that this can man- of being in between” (30). “unexpected results” ifest appropriating In this context, minstrel codes and internment camp space in order to mock the racialized logic of white US but the ephemerality of per “Southern Fun!” power can happen under a Girls’ Club banner of formance seems to wash away the potential for resistance and leave only incriminating traces for formance seems to wash away the potential for resistance and leave only incriminating “Jamboree Jingles” the After all, “unexpected results.” contemporary observers in search of these black program included in the Girls’ Club newsletter featured both a drawing of a stereotypical child eating a large watermelon “pickaninny” 4) the infamous Picaninny Freeze advertisement (fig. surrounded by musical notes, as if singing. surrounded by musical notes,

- and mocking the senti commodity the blackface/voice successful in demystifying formers were bare would have laid minstrel sing-along then their tragic their white forefathers, mentality of through revealing Southern racial order by an antiquated of blackness the commodification what Winans defines as “the val spectacularize the dominant strategies of a racist America while erasing any subcultural tac- val spectacularize the dominant strategies of a racist tics of manipulation and diversion. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

130 Emily Roxworthy film sceneinwhichthechart-toppingsongfirstappeared. Releasedon29 August1941, thefilm Beta Tri-ettes whoperformed “Santa-nooga Choochoo” reenactedthesegregatedHollywood Miller’s lyricsdepictthesingeraskingapresumably African American “boy” forashoeshine. traveling bytrainfromNew York CitytothesoutherntownofChattanooga, Tennessee; partof the lattersongralliednationalistfeelingsagainstJapaneseenemy, theformersongtellsof 10. (Film of Emily still courtesy Roxworthy) a 17 August called “Santa-nooga Choo choo.” 1942 performance scene to the narrative of their forced evacuation and relocation in 1941 film of the segregatedtheir part “Chattanooga Choo Choo” scene in the Figure 5. Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers perform ber one), itsharedthetopspotswithSammyKayetune “Remember PearlHarbor.” “Chattanooga ChooChoo” hoverednearthetopofcharts(nineweekswhichitwasnum- when JapanattackedPearlHarboron7December1941. Forsomeofthefivemonthsthat Choo Choo” wasabig-bandsongthatrankednumberoneontheBillboard musiccharts formed bytheGlennMillerOrchestra(with Tex BenekeandtheModernaires), “Chattanooga enced theirawarenessthatyetanotherforcedexoduswasonthehorizon. Written andper Anita internmentspace, theinternees’insertionsof “Poston, herewecome!” explicitlyrefer determine theextenttowhichoriginalsonglyricswerechangedcommentonSanta assembly centers, andimpendingrelocationtosemi-permanentcamps. Although itishardto Choo” inordertotelltheinternees’storyofforcedevacuation, imprisonmentintemporary ees’ “Santa-nooga Choochoo” repurposedthechart-toppingpopularsong “Chattanooga Choo some womenkeptshouting ‘Poston [RelocationCenter], (1942b). herewecome!’” The intern- ing roundandtreescitiespassedby. Itwascuteandverywelldone. Duringthesong women sangwhileothersbroughtforthonthestageachootrain. As thetrainwasturn- Tsumagari, firstprizewasawardedtothe “Santa-noogaChoochoo, whichsomeoftheyoung received first, second, andthirdprizesfromtheSanta AnitaGirls’ClubDivision. According to Breed, inwhich Tsumagari providescapsulereviewsofthethree “Southern Fun!” actsthat formances emergefromoneofFusa Tsumagari’s longletterstoSanDiegolibrarianClara bers. ManyofthedetailscontemporaryobserversknowaboutSouthernJamboreeper More thansimplymimickingaverypopularmainstreamswingnumberincriticalway, the These tacticscanbecomemorelegiblethroughthewordsofoneGirls’Clubmem- .com/archive#/archive “The Billboard Music Popularity Chart,” Sun ValleySerenade. Santa Anita adapted this internees Billboard Magazine, October 1941 to March 1942. See www.billboard Santa Anita’s Beta Tri-ettesSanta Anita’s were centerpiece oftheperformance, bringing itonstageasadynamic ing theirowntrainsetpieceand in question(fig. 5). Byconstruct- rical setpiecedepictingthetrain positioned downstageofatheat- routine whilesingingtherefrain, proceed toperformatapdance Brothers —who Nicholas the and Dandridge ers —Dorothy entertain- of AfricanAmerican camera pansovertoagroup Miller’s whiterendition, the out thesong’snarrative. After of supportingsingersacting Choo” withanall-whitecast dition of “Chattanooga Choo Orchestra performsitsren- one scene, theGlennMiller place atanIdahoskiresort. In by BruceHumberstone)took Sun ValleySerenade (directed 10 While - - -

Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 131 - intersect - in paternalisti — set the Cinderella tale in the “Deep South”; South”; “Deep the in tale Cinderella the set Cindy-ella Cindy-ella and a civil rights–minded African American girl African and a civil rights–minded — on Hollywood celluloid. By embodying the talented but the talented By embodying celluloid. on Hollywood — Tsumagari called this blackface rendition of Cinderella, titled rendition of Cinderella, called this blackface Tsumagari 12 would premiere at the Garrick Theatre in London. London. in Theatre the Garrick at premiere would Shoe Gotta I or Cindy-ella, In other words, the “Santa-nooga Choo-choo” performance was not founded performance was not founded “Santa-nooga Choo-choo” the In other words, 11 , the Japanese sandal often , that a geta and noted “cute and very well acted” 13 as a young Japanese American girl as a young Japanese

a bleak conclusion borne out by her personal experience, in which her former friend in out by her personal experience, a bleak conclusion borne — —

The performance by the Nisei actresses who emulated Dorothy Dandridge, however, had no however, Dandridge, the Nisei actresses who emulated Dorothy The performance by Rachel Lee rightly points out that there are alternatives to this Butlerian notion of performativity, which only only which performativity, of notion Butlerian this to alternatives are there that out points rightly Lee Rachel condemn regulatoryand of subjectivity of aspects terms the dictate that discourses punitive the “emphasizes for Lowe, Lisa (2002:156). codes” performnot normative of do who constraints those the within identity their heterogeneous the by possible made “coalitions” performative of notion her through alternative an offers instance, to difficult thus and unclosed” and uneven “simultaneously are that identities American Asian of composition performances proper (1996:70). for police 2. Jingles,” “Jamboree also See musical the later, years Twenty (1962), Sherrin Caryl Ned and by written As Brahms The Girls’ Club Division awarded the second-place prize to a “Scrap Fashions” display “Scrap Fashions” prize to a The Girls’ Club Division awarded the second-place in Brahms and Sherrin’s words, “we have borrowed the Cinderella story from Perrault and told it as a Mammy Mammy a as it told and story Perrault Cinderella the from borrowed have “we words, Sherrin’s and Brahms in Musical to (Guide Orleans” in New yard tenement a in girl little her to Cindy-Ella of the tale tell might Theatre 2013). ary whiteness” that defined proper Asian behavior as “acting white” as opposed to identifying as opposed to identifying white” “acting Asian behavior as defined proper that ary whiteness” “acting Black.” transgressively bodies (like that of her friend) that were with other racialized Americans with Asian “cross-identification of claims, Yamamoto this framework,” “Within but rather to reinforce structures, can work not to undermine existing racial Americans African them” forced from their primarily for this cross-identification and eventually was cruelly ostracized white school (2002:22–23). only with a celluloid image and consequently such pretense of reciprocity; they were identifying “ideological care- body called upon to serve as an American African posed little danger to the of resistance who raises other racialized minorities’ awareness of oppression and modes giver” 1994:70). (Wong at her school. Theorizing her personal history, Yamamoto writes that eventually, and inevita- that eventually, writes Yamamoto her personal history, Theorizing at her school. “code of honor performance within the enforced her of ethnic mimeticism” “the politics bly, 12. 13. 11. described as combining an elevated wooden clog with a thong sandal, was substituted for the was substituted clog with a thong sandal, described as combining an elevated wooden to ­ Extending the theme of economic deprivation in order usual glass slipper (1942b). referencing not (only) the white swing band’s rendition of the hit song but also the “Other” half “Other” but also the of the hit song swing band’s rendition not (only) the white referencing are captured in which black entertainers musical number of the segregated happy song and dance cally familiar Traise resisting what female internees were these young Dorothy Dandridge, underemployed of to produce a theory Using auto-ethnography “the ethnic mimetic.” (2002) calls Yamamoto between forbidden friendship racially a short-lived, analyzes Yamamoto racial triangulation, herself on any myth of mutual exchange through cross-racial identification but rather on the use of a on any myth of mutual exchange through performer that allowed the girls to express the contra- Hollywood vehicle for a glamorous black anticipated Anita and their evacuated to Santa dictions of their experiences of being forcefully WRA relocation centers such as Poston. transfers to tissue) to cre- toilet (i.e., “ration paper” of that showcased one of the Delta clubs’ repurposing This seem- 1942b). by internees (Tsumagari ate special-occasion outfits otherwise unattainable which Japanese in deprivations of the internment, ingly frivolous act emphasized the economic for a tiny fraction of their value and were Americans were forced to sell their belongings (the title of Lawson Fusao “only what we could carry” allowed to bring to the assembly centers The theme of economic depri- experience). Inada’s [2000] edited collection on the internment ‘Cinderella’” staged by Santa “a blackface story of vation also underwrote the third-place act, of Southern “the four corners” a 24-member organization representing Anita’s Delta Cardinals, 1942b). California (Tsumagari “Cindy Ella,” Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

132 Emily Roxworthy an overlappingthatIwouldextend totheUSmilitary’sunconstitutionalcontrolofgeo- white subjects” andacknowledges “the mutualimbricationsofsegregationand exclusion” (29), condoned methodsofracialsubordination thatcontrolledthegeographicalmobilityofnon- following decadeslater. Lwinnotesthat “both JimCrowsegregationandChineseexclusion thus Chineseexclusiongaveway toJapaneseexclusion, withtheJapanese American internment The Chineseimmigration “problem” wasfollowedbytheJapaneseimmigration “problem,” and Asian Americans inordertomoreefficientlyconquer them: (1999:107). SandraLwinexplainshowdominantracial policiesdivided African Americans and become racializedincomparisonwithoneanotherandthatthey aredifferentlyracialized” into ablack-whitebinary. Kimarguedthatracialtriangulation “emphasizes boththatgroups the UnitedStatesas “racial triangulation” rather thanattemptingtofitalldemographicgroups America (2006:209–10). skins orexpressivemodesofcommunicatingtheinterrelationsamongminorityexperiencein of anyracialmarker” (2006:206), whileitsimultaneouslytranslatestheseracistmasksintonew face, arguingthatlayeringblackfaceontopofyellowfaceservesto “highlight thedepthlessness white racialorder. Banerjeeisinterestedinmomentswhenactorsof Asian descentdonblack- ity areexpectedtowearyellowfaceinperpetuitydemonstratetheirobsequiousnessa political performanceofeverydaylife:toattainverticalassimilation, theso-calledmodelminor Asian American actorsseekingworkintheatre, film, andtelevision. Moreover, yellowfaceisa actors suchas Warner Oland(whogainedfameplayingCharlieChan)butalsomore­ only throughminstrelcodes, yellowface/voiceisatheatricalpracticeengagednotonlybywhite face/voice inordertomakethemselveslegibleaudiencesconditionedapprehendblackness and unwantedblackness” (2006:206). Muchas African Americans wereforcedtodonblack- might produceanewskinthatwould “upset thedistinctionbetweendesirable Asian immigrant ing bothblackfaceandyellowfaceperformingaspresences, notmerecaricatures” transgresses theracializationimposedbywhite America, MitaBanerjeewonderswhether “wear minorities, creating “something ofahorizontalassimilation” (2001:x). by the “recognition, solidarity, andsafety” ofbuildingcoalitionswithblacksandotherracialized in USsocietyhasobscuredtheextenttowhichmany Asian Americans havebecomeradicalized that seeminglyconservative Asian Americans emulatewhitenesstosecure “vertical assimilation” Everybody Was KungFuFighting, Vijay Prashadsuggeststhatthemodelminorityassumption vious focusthatonlyexaminedhoweachminorityrelatestothewhitemajority. Inhisbook the coalitionalexperiencesof African Americans and Asian Americans, thusexpandingthe pre- ies scholarshiphasattemptedtoconnectthesedotsinotherhistoricalmomentsbyfocusingon the oversizedshadowcastbyyoungwomen’suseofblackface/voice. Recentculturalstud- the multiprongedimplicationsofablackfaceCinderellaatSanta Anita areeasilyobscuredin US SoutherngentilityalsoimplicatedtheracistcodesoftraditionalJapaneseculture. However, Japanese slipper, yettheSouthernJamboree’scarnivalesqueattitudetowardracistcodesof The DeltaCardinals’ “Cindy Ella” characterprovesnotherloyaltybutroyalty bydonninga Racial Triangulation American signifierstobringthetriangulationofUSracerelationscenterstage. class withrace, ethnicity, andgender, “Cindy Ella” deployedwhite, Japanese, and African immigration. (2006:17) lem” ofracerelations, whilethelatterhasbeenperceived asaboutthe “problem” of Crow andChineseexclusion. The formertraditionally hasbeenperceivedasthe “prob- racialized segregationexistedsimultaneouslyontheterrainof U.S. lawandculture:Jim From thelatenineteenthcenturythroughmid-twentieth century, tworegimesof In aninfluentialessay, ClaireJeanKimcalledonscholarstoexamineracialstratificationin Building onPrashad’sideathatthishorizontalassimilationmightcreate “a newskin” that subtly by - - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 133 - whether — ), an equation used to justify the ), jinrui a slur that Ian Condry traces to “an earlier era’s a slur that Ian Condry traces to — , especially those who attended to American ser American especially those who attended to , pansuke or the two national projects between which young Nisei women (and all between which young Nisei women the two national projects — performances (149). As The Confuser contorts the offspring of such racial mix- As performances (149).

In the case study of internment camp blackface, then, racial triangulation also comes into racial then, camp blackface, In the case study of internment Long before World War II, Japanese nationalists had mobilized the female body as a met- Japanese II, War World Long before Japanese American internees) found themselves suspended during World War II. Velina Hasu Velina II. War World during internees) found themselves suspended American Japanese the overlapping racial ideol- playwright whose corpus explores Houston is a contemporary what it means to be the daugh- Her plays meditate on United States. ogies of Japan and the parents met during the American man (Houston’s African and an ter of a Japanese woman , for Tadashi In her 2000 play Waiting II). War World Japan that followed Allied Occupation of The Confuser to perform both as biracial title character being forced by Houston imagines her “Oriental the minstrel style) and as an (blackening his face to dance in “Negro Impersonator” a poses) (whitening his face and donning a wig/headpiece to strike Kabuki Impersonator” Abner’s trade- Li’l Appalachian from but related to the Different 23). (Houston [2000] 2011:9, to name the cruel Japanese “The Confuser” Houston uses “amoosin’ but confoosin’,” mark grows up after Tadashi orphanage where the discarded Tokyo woman who operates the 1950s a US soldier who had American father, African and being abandoned by his Japanese mother embodies the postwar nightmare of racial pollution Tadashi been stationed in postwar Japan. (the dehumanizing verb “breeding” Japanese women shared by Japanese and US nationalisms: Forced to perform his marginalized iden- especially black US GIs. is intentional) with US GIs, spends the rest of the play searching for maternal Tadashi tity through blackface and yellowface, the Japanese imaginary’s self-professed racial purity. figures that embody the female threat to — many in Japan would call them burapan worships these female figures, Tadashi Although Japanese women who sleep with black men focus because of its acknowledgment of the shared ideologies of the United States and the of the shared ideologies focus because of its acknowledgment Japanese Empire panpan namely, term for prostitutes, graphical mobility of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. Especially during the war’s racial Especially during Harbor. Americans after Pearl of Japanese graphical mobility also fight- insisted on Americans African which campaigns (in Victory” “Double of environment and FBI fears of cross- the US home front) racial minorities on persecution of ing the Nazi-like to discourses that sought by dominant US were suppressed these parallels plots, racial sabotage Axis at war with the in a United States Those in power another. against one pit racial minorities in diametric the nation’s racial benevolence to proclaim felt an increased urgency enemies also imperialism. and Japanese Italian fascism, Nazism, opposition to German vicemen” (2007:656). (2007:656). vicemen” a term that demonstrates Japan’s race,” “Yamato the onym for the need to protect the purity of ) with race ( historic equation of ethnic group (minzoku blood- Asian ethnicities with purportedly inferior nation’s colonial aggression against other (and arguably Japanese nationalism rested has explained, As Kinsella lines (Kinsella 2005:147). of national “a eugenic program that regarded Japanese girls as the bodily vessels still rests) on upon a pure “predicated Since its national identity is (152; see also Robertson 1998). ethnicity” many Japanese live in fear of girls’ racial mixing and traditional Japanese femininity,” American cul- African through exogamy with US GIs or through the apparent emulation of ture in ganguro Hasu Houston Velina ing into grotesquely coerced performances of blackface and yellowface, policed the connects this racism that undergirds Japanese nationalism with the way minstrelsy African constituting US national identity out of as Rogin puts it, boundaries of whiteness by, Tadashi The Confuser coerces these poses out of Although Americans’ subjugation (1996:18). as a Japanese I am more interested in how Houston, to reinscribe his racial marginalization, impersonation to “Oriental” impersonation and “Negro” uses American playwright, African and traditional critique US and Japanese nationalisms based on racial purity and the protection of US impulses to Houston’s dramaturgy illustrates the way that shared Japanese and femininity. of a triangu- maintain racial purity by performative opposition to blackness can chart the points lar reading of young Nisei women’s performance of blackface in the internment camps. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

134 Emily Roxworthy appearance Although this “new andsuperiorexistence” mostofteninvolvestransformingone’sphysical come obstaclesortoachieveone’sdreams.” Inparticular, Millershowsthatby sive exemplaroffeminizedpatienceandvirtuebutrather “to denoteindividualagencytoover contemporary JapanhaveusedShinderera (“Cinderella”- pronouncedinJapanese)notasapas posed foranantinormativecause, Millerdemonstrateshowyoungwomen(andsomemen)in according torace, class, andgender(2008:394). As butoneexampleofthefolktalebeingrepur the criticalpotentialofCinder-maid’s taleforappropriationbysocialgroupsmarginalized including SimonedeBeauvoir’s1971treatmentinTheSecondSex, thathaveunderestimated Cinderella’s taleofpassivelywaitingforherprincetorescuefromabjection. face, nomatterhowitwasapplied, wouldbeco-optedbythesociallyconservativeundertowof one mightalsoarguethatanycriticalpotentialleveragedthroughthetheatricaliconofblack- duction ofaraciallycharged “Cindy Ella” acriticalperformanceofracialtriangulation, but the internmentcamps elevated getasandalthatironicallyprovedsousefulfortraversingtheoften-muddyterrainin beyond domesticUSboundariesbycross-castingatraditionalJapanesematerialobject American exclusionand African American segregation, theyalsostagedtheirCinderellastory classic USrags-to-richesfantasytomakevisibletheclass-basedinterestsunderlyingboth Asian [original] story, itsdepictionofclassambitionsand classviolence” (1993:103). spell istoignore, inElisabethPanttaja’swords, “what ismosttroubling physical beautyandheteronormativeromancethatseemtounderwrite theCinderellatale’s purposes farafieldofwhite, Western emulation. Moreover, tofixateonthemessagesabout of thedominantculture. Therefore, in1942, “Cindy Ella” possessedcriticalpotentialtoserve small-scale printingsbeforeDisney’sfilmandotherimperializing formsofthetalebecamepart tale thatoriginatedintheirhomelands, andthesedisparate folkstoriescirculatedorallyandin 1977:22). ManyimmigrantgroupsbroughttotheUnited StatesversionsoftheCinderella emerged fromasocietythatrationalizedfoot-bindingtoachieve theideal “lotus foot” (in Yolen story toitsfirstiterationinninth-centuryChina, where thefixationonaslipperwithanidealfit pantoufle de verre), asJane Yolen pointsout, sinologist Arthur Waley (1947)tracedtheCinderella onymic slippermadeofglass(andhemayhavemeantpantouflede vair [furslipper]insteadof Perrault’s 1697 “Cinderilla: or The LittleGlassSlipper” gavethe Western worldthemet- its “blonde, pale-skinned Anglo” heroine(Miller2008:394). Although FrenchmanCharles emits fromthenow-globalhegemonyof Walt Disney’s1950animatedfilmCinderella , with for whitestandardsofbeauty. that theShinderera discourseinvolvesneitheraheteronormativehappily-ever-after norstriving her face:indeed, “she becamesoblackandsmuttythatherstepsisterscalled Cinderella, or elty thatoncoldnightsshemust sleep “in theashesonhearth,” wherethecindersblacken treats Cinderella for racialized Americans? IntheGrimmbrothers’versionoffolktale, theevil stepmother der thedoublemeaningofwhat Yolen callsthefairytaleheroine’s “Cinders-disguise” (1977:23) who areinsearchofanewandsuperiorexistence. (394, 407) that rendersCinderellaaccessibleformainstreamandmarginalizedmembersofsociety been abletoplaywithandattimesdisrupttheCinderellaidea[...]throughadiscourse focusing onthepotentialforchangethatCinderellaembodies, cultureproducershave moving themeaningawayfromstorybookromancewithadesirablemaleandinstead Yet, asLauraMillerargues, itiswide-rangingfeministcritiquesoftheCinderellastory, After all, withtheirblackface “Cindy Ella,” theNiseiDeltaCardinalsnotonlydiverted What iftheDeltaCardinalsappliedblackfacetotheirCinderella inorderto­ The notionofCinderellaas “the perpetuationofarestrictiveEuroamericanbeautyideal” — and thisusuallyoccursthroughget-thin-quickregimens — who is “better andprettier” thanherbiologicaldaughters — as thepivotalglassslipper. OnemightseeintheDeltaCardinals’pro- — — it isimportanttonote and true — with suchcru- theatrically ren- — about the — the - - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 135 - poor girl into prin- poor girl into , 275 US 78 78 US Rice, 275 v. Lum Gong recovered; not recovered; These cinder-marks are a masquerade are These cinder-marks 14 a story of rags to riches, but rather riches ­ but to riches, a story of rags

In so doing, the performers suspended dominant narratives and representations long the performers suspended dominant narratives and representations In so doing, 15

Although Cinderella-style rags-to-riches (or riches-recovered) tales fed what Earl Lewis rags-to-riches (or riches-recovered) Although Cinderella-style (1927). By 1942, numerous state and federal court cases had established Asian Americans as part of “the colored colored courtfederal partas and state Americans Asian established had cases “the of numerous 1942, By (1927). thereof)lack (or rights the with Asians aligning thus law, the of eyes the in rather Americans African of races” whites. of those than Other translations of the original Grimm brothers’ tale retain the German name “Ashputtel” or “Ashenputtel” “Ashenputtel” or “Ashputtel” name German the retain tale brothers’ Grimm original the of translations Other Ashputtel” her called they [so] dirty, and dusty always her hearththe that “made ashes remark pointedly less and 1912:108). [1812] Grimm and (Grimm categorya demographic as codified was court in as such cases races” colored “The The Delta Cardinals seemed to assert the presence of Japanese ethnicity beneath the black- The Delta Cardinals seemed to assert the rather than a melodramatic revelation of her servant’s nature because, as Yolen rightly notes, rightly notes, Yolen as nature because, of her servant’s a melodramatic revelation rather than “‘Cinderella’ is not (1977:21). or wicked enslavement” rescued from improper rich girl (or princess) cess but rather the and through dignity, elevation and face disguises her rightful Cinderella’s The soot covering the Cinder- from her Fairy Godmother), magical assistance (and a little Prince’s recognition By rendering their true nature. socioeconomic station that befits her maid is restored to the Cardinals expanded the herme- the Delta with blackface makeup, Cindy Ella’s Cinders-disguise a melodramatic revelation of Rather than using blackface to facilitate neutics of blackface. to serve as an imposed disguise that Cindy Ella’s mask seemed nature, inferior blacks’ servile, Anita Cinderella tale’s The Santa Americans’ rightful elevation and dignity. African maligned socioeconomic station at the of its blackface heroine to a privileged recognition and restoration fulfillment for racial minorities performed a powerful version of wish end of the skit may have America. of subsisting on the margins and economic opportunity,” mythical visions of “American have called Ardizzone and Heidi of a class-divided democracy,” one of the most versatile fantasy plots “surely these tales were stories were presumed by most to be white (1997:130). the realistic US subjects of these success Americans subsisting under Jim Crow segregation were excluded from subjecthood Black the Cinderella Ardizzone make clear about Lewis and as because, in this realm as in others, order of soci- ‘natural’ popular perceptions about the “racial ideologies combined with myth, respectable, native-born, It was for white, ety to structure a reassuring version of mobility: (131). and capable” respectable, themselves white, or those able to make Americans, capable whom US exclusion laws had bestowed the dubious dis- Americans upon Asian for Similarly, ‘aliens ineligible American history to be legally rendered “the only group in tinction of being dictated that the conventional version of the harsh realism to citizenship’” (Kim 1999:112–13), but not a nonwhite one” “might stretch to allow for an immigrant Cinderella, Cinderella myth when young Nisei women interned in a govern- Therefore, Ardizzone 1997:131). (Lewis and to apply blackface to perform the Cinderella ment assembly center as an enemy race decided mobil- this audacious theatrical gesture potentially laid claim both to Cinderella’s subject, Americans) and to an interpretation of racially stereotypical ity (usually denied to nonwhite “the colored the true worthiness of those deemed icons (like minstrelsy itself) as soot disguising races.” mance of blackface within a rambunctious, carnivalesque girls’ rally transgressed the dominant carnivalesque girls’ rally transgressed mance of blackface within a rambunctious, claim to a tra- yet these young Nisei women apparently laid standard of Japanese femininity, this choice of properties empowered Moreover, ditional Japanese symbol as their birthright. associated with Cinderella’s metonymic glass slipper. revelatory abilities the geta with magical, enough, perhaps, to begin demystifying the blackface commodity and Cinderella as a commod- to begin demystifying perhaps, enough, exchange Emptying either commodity fetish of even a modicum of its usual ity of whiteness. with critical intentionality. value could have marked the entire spectacle in a perfor Participating slipper with a Japanese geta. face mask by substituting Perrault’s glass 14. 15. little ash girl” (Grimm and Grimm [1812] 1903:157). (Grimm and Grimm little ash girl” Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

136 Emily Roxworthy issues andthusshowinghowrace, class, andgenderarealwaysalreadyrelational. sense, “Cindy Ella” modernizedthefairytalebyinserting(ordrawingtosurface)racial binary thatunderwrotemostunderstandingsofracializationintheUnitedStates. Inalarger tion emphasizedhowtriangulatingCinderellawithblackfaceandgetaupdatedtheblack-white Japaneseness weremadetointersectinperformance, Tsumagari’s referencetomoderniza- a strangeassociation. InthecontextofaUSconcentrationcampinwhichblacknessand ditional Japaneseculturethatwas, intheUSimagination, feudalandtimeless, seemsatfirst “modernized” theCinderellamyth(1942b). Attributing modernizationtoamarkeroftra- scene fromthe1942HollywoodfilmHoliday Inn(directedbyMarkSandrich;fig. 6) gender historicallydisempoweredwomenoperatingwithinminstrel codes. Rogindescribesthe face (theBlackface,Noise passagequotedinmyepigraph)obscurestheextenttowhich White audience. MichaelRogin’sreadingofonethefewinstances ofafemaleperformerinblack- these youngNiseiwomenwerenotoperatingundermaleproducers orperformingforamale fusing blackfaceandyellowface. nisms throughmeldingblackfacewiththegeta group experiencedracialization, andtheblackfaceCindyEllasuggestedthesedifferentmecha- rored qualityofthesestereotypesreflectedtheverydifferentmechanismsthroughwhicheach Asian exclusionextendedtosubsumeall African and Asian Americans (2001:127). Yet themir alien culture,” gainedevenmorepotencyaftertheCivil War asJimCrowsegregationandanti- free blackslackingcultureandChinese Americans possessing, asPrashadputsit, “too much Chinese wereseenashavinganexcessofculture” (1999:35–36). The mirroredstereotypesof who wererepresentedasfraudulentcitizensbecausetheysupposedtolackculture, the Lee pointsoutaboutantebellum America, “unlike theminstrelcharacterizationoffreeblacks, equate thedenigrationof African Americans withUSrejectionofJapan’sculture. As RobertG. racial logicthatproximitytoblacknessdisqualifiedthemasvesselsofethnicpride. enacted ahard-wonprideintheirJapaneseheritagewhilerejectingthetraditional by donningbothblackfaceandgetabehindbarbedwire, theseyoungNiseiwomenpotentially intersecting ametonymofJapaneseculturaldifferencewiththeblackfacemask. Inotherwords, and movinglyidentifiesJapanese Americanexperiencewith African Americanexperienceby and consideredwhollyun-American. To anobserver70yearslater, thiscastingalsospecifically Japanese inapost–PearlHarboratmospherewhichanything “Jap” wastaintedbysuspicion foot. CastingaJapanesegetaasthepowerfulgiftproclaimedpositivemagicofsomething and thenberealizedastherightfulprincessclothedinragswhenshoeisshowntofither the powerfulslipperinordertobetransformedintoanillusoryprincess, atleastuntilmidnight, ists torecognizeaniterationoftheCinderellamyth(1977:23), insofarastheheroinemustdon Yolen identifies “theaidofmagicalgift” asoneofthecentralelementsnecessaryforfolklor 18. 17. 16. formance prizes. duce theiractsentirelyonown, inacompetition to winoneofthehi-jinksshow’sper dance, orastunt” thatintersectedinanywaywith the “Southern Jamboree” themeandtopro- Girls’ Clubsperformedbycallingupontheiryoungfemalemembers to “think ofaskit, ora Yet CindyElla’striangulationofwhiteracism, blackface, andJapaneseforeignnessdidnot “Jamboree Jingles,” 1. sympathy with the wife (1997:144). his marriage to a working-class black woman, which was dubbed by many to be “a modern Cinderella” story, in and Ardizzone’s essay on the 1924 Rhinelander case in which an upper-class white husband attempted to annul My interpretation of “modern” as defining the historical relationality of race, class, and gender draws from Lewis ‘Sambo’ character in Wild West minstrelsy shows” (Kim 1999:110). Historically speaking, though, in the West, “the ‘heathen Chinee’ character often appeared with the Black Most “modern” ofall, perhaps, wastheagencyDeltaCardinalsandotherSanta Anita Fusa Tsumagari insistedthatbyusinggeta 18 Inotherwords, ina “modern” reversalof blackface/voice’susualmateriality, 16

instead ofglassslippers, herfellowGirls’Club signifier ratherthan, asMitaBanerjeesuggests, 17 in which - - - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 137

Holiday Inn Holiday she remarks that she would rather look — “steal” being an operative word here, since the actress is framed being an operative word here, “steal” — although it is true that she quickly warms to the minstrelsy routine as she eventu-

—

Unlike the all-female Nisei performance in which Santa Anita internees figuratively and Unlike the all-female Nisei performance in which Santa ally performs a monstrously racist caricature of a pickaninny in the Lincoln’s Birthday cel- ally performs a monstrously racist caricature of a pickaninny in the Lincoln’s Birthday love interest manipulated by Bing Crosby’s more But as the naïve female ebration onstage. (1942). (Film still courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC, © Paramount Pictures, Inc.) Inc.) Pictures, Paramount © LLC, Licensing Studios courtesystill Universal of (Film (1942). makeup as she muses aloud that her lot as white actress Marjorie Reynolds applies blackface at the Holiday Inn dinner theatre) “15 nights a year” a seasonal performer (appearing onstage Rogin builds on this descrip- by a fairy godmother. parallels Cinderella’s nightly transformation conclud- actress and the rags-to-riches heroine, tion to collapse the identity of the blackface While Rogin correctly discerns the (1996:183). “the cinders transform her into royalty” ing that makeup and the fairytale heroine’s Cinders-disguise, resonance between blackface’s burnt-cork It is literal application of soot to a female’s agency. he incorrectly attributes the figurative and (played by Bing Crosby) who zealously uses shoe not Reynolds but her onscreen love interest of his plot to hide the actress from talent scouts he polish to blacken Reynolds’s face as part fears will steal her from him As Crosby as a desirable commodity that the two male leads barter and trade among themselves. he crypti- Inn, forcefully applies the blackface makeup to Reynolds’s grimacing face in Holiday “I got my start as a bootblack.” cally explains his prowess as a burnt-cork artist by saying this misreading of Marjorie Reynolds’s literally applied blackface as part of a sorority event, “there is a primal scene according to Rogin, agency in applying blackface is meaningful since, in the However, (1996:182). in every blackface musical: it shows the performer blacking up” does not want to peddle the blackface commod- Reynolds’s character film’s true diegesis, ity in order to bolster her career as an entertainer “pretty” Figure 6. Marjorie Reynolds and Bing Crosby appearing in the Lincoln’s Birthday celebration onstage in onstage celebration Birthday Lincoln’s the in appearing Crosby Bing and Reynolds Marjorie 6. Figure Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

138 Emily Roxworthy lished inoppositiontohip-hop practicesinJapan(Condry2007:655–56). Japanese girlsinblackfaceperforming aship-hopDJs, infact, thegangurosubculture wasestab- fact thatshesothoroughlymisunderstands theirpractices:althoughbrownrepeatedlyshows curiosity aboutthematerialrealities ofgangurogirls’existenceisamplydemonstratedbythe the logicthat Asians mimic white Westerners andaspiretotheirracialstatus. Brown’s lackof and materialunderpinningsof those whoareneitherblacknorwhite, suchassumptions enact former beneaththemaskupholdswhiteness” (662). Insteadofattendingtothespecificrealities out, brownconflatesgirlsofJapanesedescentwithwhite Americansand “assumesthattheper already beenimplicatedintheirco-optationofblackcultures” (2007:662). As Anderson points brown’s visualargument “that contemporaryJapanese youth aspiretowardsawhitenessthathas Elam andJackson’schoiceofcoverartlegitimateswhatCrystal Anderson rightlysurmisesas con­ ukiyo-e ing fromvisualartistionarozealbrown’s “a3 blackface” series(fig. 7), whichusesJapanese on paper, of G Fine courtesy Art) Press. Illustration by iona rozeal brown, and Popular Culture of the University. (Courtesy of Michigan volume on the cover of Harry J. Elam Jr. and Kennell Jackson’s 2005 edited Figure 7. A 2002 representation of a Japanese fla­ tion oftwodistinctpopculturetrendsinJapan, asIan Condry pointsout(2007:655–56). Black Cultural Traffic: Crossroads in Global Performance aesthetics toimaginegangurogirlsperforminghip-hop, anapparentlyunintentional , acrylic A3 blackface #21, acrylic ganguro girl featured Black CulturalBlack Traffic, apaint- of their2005editedcollection, Jackson featuredonthecover rians HarryElamandKennell have enacted. Culturalhisto- (American) girls’blackface previous readingsofJapanese tics ofethnicmimeticismthat tion, onemustrefusethepoli- the processofracialtriangu­ rendered visible(andresolvable) to bereadasaperformancethat Cardinals’ blackfaceCindyElla “pretty,” whitefemininity. cir­ ella figurefromitsdominant process reclaimingtheCinder racist codesfirstemerged, inthe racial orderfromwhichthese text thatridiculedtheSouthern Southern Jamboreefestivalcon- their blackfaceCindyEllainthe willfully andknowinglyincluded Santa Anita Girls’ClubDivision and equality. Bycontrast, the petuating USmythsoffreedom President Lincoln’sroleinper tion inascenethatcelebrates not seemtounderstanditsfunc- it’s not “pretty”), andshedoes tory orimplications(onlythat strates noknowledgeofitshis- this theatricalicon, shedemon- she doesnotchoosetodeploy political agencyin “blacking up”: ter, Reynolds’scharacterhasno experienced vaudevilliancharac- cu­ In order for the Delta In orderfortheDelta lation asarehearsalof la­ ­ - - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 139 - - - on the and — children who are — and doing so right to the faces of their respec- — to blacken up?” (2001:242). Despite recognizing the “enor Despite recognizing the (2001:242). to blacken up?” — commissioned photographer (Francis Stewart took this photograph and many

- reveals that two of the parade entries were supposed to show Gila News-Courier (1943),

One of the images to which Kozol, in my opinion, extends too little curiosity, was taken extends too little curiosity, in my opinion, One of the images to which Kozol, “if” this large contingency: the extant archival accounts cannot is a rather Once again, In a similar fashion, Japanese American girls in blackface make a cameo appearance in an appearance in an blackface make a cameo American girls in Japanese fashion, In a similar mous complexity” posed by such racially triangulated performances, Kozol does not seem to posed by such racially triangulated performances, mous complexity” she of these images (for instance, research outside the photographic frames have conducted any reporters discuss such per consult the camp newspapers in which internee apparently does not Rogin’s dismissal of blackface’s not hesitate to automatically apply Michael formances) and does American performers on Jewish despite the fact that Rogin’s work focused resistant potential, binary) his work does not address blackface performers outside the black-white (in other words, (Kozol 2001:244). Festival held at the Gila River camp on during the parade that was part of the Harvest blackened and skin completely shows a line of Nisei girls, It 1). Thanksgiving Day in 1942 (fig. this incrim- alone, Taken parading past mostly Issei male onlookers. costumed in abject rags, reveals nothing of the performers’ inating remnant of the blackface performance-as-product Thanksgiving expressive mode for appearing in a process of engaging racist caricatures as their in the But researching the context of this blackface performance, parade behind barbed wire. camp’s government’s pho- and yet only one such parade act appears in the Arts,” “Japanese Fine case marched in Photographs show that the blackface performers tographs of the Harvest Festival. a position the Gila News-Courier Association float, the parade before the internees’ Buddhist Nisei girls’ black- What if the Arts entries. Fine describes as belonging to one of the Japanese Festival was a subversive bait-and-switch in which face appearance at the Gila River Harvest and instead Arts” “Japanese Fine traditional display of they piously promised their elders a pure, racial triangulation that flouted both US expectations that performance of “startling” flaunted a and Japanese expectations that they properly per Nisei properly perform ethnic mimeticism form national ethnicity? Nisei girls in blackface had promised to present prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the pub- fact, In parodic display of blackness instead. and presented a Arts” “Japanese Fine or did lished notices about the Harvest Festival contain no suggestion that blackface would there can be no doubt that this performance occurred in a very pub- Yet appear in the parade. women would not normally appear: in front of a American young lic arena in which Japanese US government–­ and in front of male Issei elders WRA officials, WRA) and other ­others for the own spectacu- Using blackface layered on their occasion of a major US national(ist) holiday. these Nisei girls tactically claimed this space with larized female bodies of Japanese descent, “the hallmark of scenes of ide- identifies as Yamamoto none of the maudlin sentimentality that the Rather, Americans. Asian Americans and African performed between ological caregiving” claiming space through the radicalization of black- American performers who are Japanese or at least the American forefathers, ness seem to be mocking both their Japanese and their sexist thrust of dominant nationalisms racist, They are enacting the These girls are smiling. Look at the photograph. tive objects of ridicule. Haunting Violations: Feminist Criticism and the Criticism and Feminist Violations: collection Haunting Kozol in her edited Wendy essay by and dis- to white mimics relegates Nisei internees quickly brown, like Kozol, “Real.” Crisis of the a cursory examina- after only potential in their performances possible subversive misses any of Archives’ collection the National As she examined photographs. tion of decontextualized came across several Kozol camps, taken in the internment propaganda photos US government In her essay, blackface (2001:242). that showed Nisei children performing in images “startling” Gila River Relocation Center these blackface photographs taken at the she examines two of - complexity of these pictures con “enormous Kozol states that the the outset, At Arizona. in children American what can it mean for Japanese fronts us immediately: incarcerated for being potential enemies to the state without any evidence of subversive activ- potential enemies to the state without incarcerated for being charges ity to substantiate the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00264 by guest on 01October 2021

140 Emily Roxworthy ies inUSconcentrationcamps. stereotypical blacknessasthesecodeswereprocessedbyyoungJapanese American femalebod- productions ofcross-culturalblackfacedemystifythecommodityfetishotherwisepromisedby able torecognizetheperformativeoperationsofracialtriangulation. At theveryleast, failed if detanglingtheprocesswherebytheseNiseiwomenlaidclaimtoblackfacemakesusmore asserts theimportanceofthesepotentiallyfailedperformancescriticalblackface, particularly tingency soprecariousastoguaranteespectacularfailures. Itistheproductivityoffailurethat exceptional andevenresistantbecausetheirpoliticalontologyexistsonlywithinlayersofcon- whiteness andfemininity. blackface maskinaspacewhereNiseigirls’survivalseemedtodependonproperlyperforming igrated blackness?It’sdoubtful, especiallybecausethisrefusalwasperformedfromwithinthe of interneesrefusingthedominantraciallogicsbywhichbothJapanandUnitedStatesden- in ablackfaceCindyEllaactandHarvestFestivalparadeentrymarginalizedgroup mimeticism. Evenintheirownhistoricalmoments, wouldliveaudienceshavebeenabletosee ble tocontemporaryUSaudiencesraisedonthemodelminoritymythandpoliticsofethnic formances atSanta Anita andGilaRiverseeminsimilardangerofbecomingcompletelyillegi- emergent radicalism” (18), yetanysubversivepotentialinyoungNiseiwomen’sblackfaceper failure because “the spacebetweenmaskandfleshwasbeingerasedbytheexigenciesofan tural politics” (2005:19). inflected byculturalgroupsexternaltotheblack/whitedialecticthatsodefined Americancul- white performancesthatrevealhowblackface’s “meanings wererelentlesslyreappropriatedand stereotypes asameansofprotest, resistance, andpoliticalexpressionwasjustoneofmanynon- by an American of West Indiandescent. Henotesthat Williams’s mimicryof African American “intricate patternsofcross-­ ing Williams intotheblack-whitebinary denieshisproductiveagencybecauseitdismissesthe most (in)famousblack American performerofblackface. Chude-Sokeidemonstrateshowforc- formance careerofBert Williams (1874–1922), a West Indianimmigrantwhobecamethe at thisfaithinblackface’scriticalpowerthroughhisextensivestudyofthecross-culturalper never acy [...] After all, notonlycan Blackface” as “a claimalsoontherighttoreflectback Americaimagesofitshistoricalleg- “claim onblackface” thatLouisChude-Sokeidefinesinarecentpiececalled “TheNewEraof Chude-Sokei, Louis. 2009. “The NewEraofBlackface.” Fanzine, 17December. http://thefanzine.com Chude-Sokei, Louis. 2005. TheLast “Darky”: Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, andthe African de Certeau, Michel. 1984. ThePractice ofEveryday Life. Trans. StevenRendall. Berkeley:Universityof Brahms, Caryl, andNedSherrin. 1962. Cindy-Ella, orIGottaShoe .London: W.H. Allen. Billboard Magazine. 2013. “The BillboardMusicPopularityChart.” Billboard Magazine, October1941to Banerjee, Mita. 2006. “The RushHourofBlack/AsianCoalitions?JackieChanandBlackfaceMinstrelsy.” Anderson, CrystalS. 2007. “The Afro-Asiatic Floating World: Post-SoulImplicationsofthe Art ofIona References The oppressiveandinsularconditionsofincarcerationrendertheseblackfaceperformances Chude-Sokei arguesthatthecivilrightseralaterapprehendedBert Williams asaracial /articles/features/391/the_new_era_of_blackface (7January2013). Diaspora. California Press. March 1942. www.billboard.com/archive#/archive (10January). 204–22. New York: New York UniversityPress. In Rozeal Brown.”Review 41, 4(Winter):655–65. AfricanAmerican AfroAsian Encounters: Culture, History, Politics, eds. HeikeRaphael-HernandezandShannonSteen, only racist[,]justasnotallblackfaceisminstrelsy” (2009). Inpart, Chude-Sokeiarrives Durham, NC:DukeUniversityPress. culturality atwork” inthereappropriationofblackfaceminstrelsy blackface havealternativemeanings, italwayshas. Minstrelsywas - - Blackface Behind Barbed Wire 141 New York: Palgrave Macmillan. York: New Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity. Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Kung Fu Fighting: Was Everybody

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