Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Erich Poncza

The Impact of American Minstrelsy on Blackface

in Europe

Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.

2017

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

1

I would like to thank my supervisor Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A. for his

guidance and help in the process of writing my bachelor´s theses.

2 Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………..………....……5

1. Stereotyping………………………………………..…….………………..………….6

2. Origins of Blackface………………………………………………….…….……….10

3. Blackface Caricatures……………………………………………………………….13

Sambo………………………………………………………….………………14

Coon…………………………………………………………………….……..15

Pickaninny……………………………………………………………………..17

Jezebel…………………………………………………………………………18

Savage…………………………………………………………………………22

Brute……………………………………………………….………...... ……22

4. European Blackface and Stereotypes…………………………..……….….……....26

Minstrelsy in England…………………………………………………………28

Imagery………………………………………………………………………..31

Blackface………………………………………………………..…………….36

Czech Blackface……………………………………………………………….40

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….44

Images…………………………………………………………………………………46

Works Cited………………………………………………………………….………..52

Summary………………………………………………………….……………………59

Resumé……………………………………………………………………..………….60

3 Introduction

Blackface is a practice that involves people, mostly white, painting their faces black. It has its roots in Europe but it was America that popularized this as a form of entertainment. It has two aspects. The actual act of painting ones face black and then the stereotypical archetypes of blacks that are inseparably tied to the blackface performances popularized by the Minstrels. These stereotypes shaped beliefs and opinions about blacks since 1823 when Thomas D. Rice for the first time appeared on the stage of Bowery Theater in New York. After that the minstrel shows quickly surfaced as one of the first native forms of American entertainment. Even today notions about African Americans that emerged during the nineteenth century are still very much alive.

The thesis will describe how the Minstrel imagery and the stereotypical archetypes, which were systematically defined in the America, influenced the way in which African Americans are depicted and portrayed in Europe. The spheres of interest will be the imagery, the literary sources, and the traditions that include depictions of

African Americans in Europe. These depictions will then be compared to the stereotypical depictions of blacks in America throughout its history. Another important part of the research will also be the actual custom of blacking one's face within the

European culture and how this customs relate to the American form of blackface. The

European countries that the work will be focusing on are those that were involved in the imperial past and were connected to the slave trade. Images and stereotypes from these countries will be compared to the Czech Republic that had no direct part in the slave trade and was therefore not directly influenced by the stereotypes exported from

America.

4 The first chapter of this thesis describes the process of stereotyping. In the following two chapters the main focus will be on the role that the Minstrel shows played in the creation of blackface caricatures and anti-black stereotypes. The main focus of the last chapter will be on how this practice shaped perception and depiction of Africans

Americans in Europe. The European literature concerning African Americans alongside with imagery and the European blackface traditions will be put into a parallel with the stereotypes and caricatures that arose during the era of American Minstrelsy. Also the imagery of countries that were historically involved in slave trade and imperialism will be compared to the imagery appearing in the Czech Republic in order to evaluate to what extent is the spread of the stereotypes influenced by the slave trade itself and in which form were the stereotypes imported form America to Europe.

5 1. Stereotyping

Stereotypes were and still are an important factor in shaping the racial attitudes.

Our consciousness, in order to avoid a sensory overload, encodes the hugely complex external world into the simplified patterns and categories (MacMaster 59). The process of “othering” is how stereotypes operate. From a concrete perspective we evaluate certain groups of people or cultures, different from us, and position them into a fixed place (Pickering 47). The idea of racially backward and culturally inferior societies emerged through the sense of the advancement that the western world possessed - the societies that were perceived as inferior by the western standards became the Other

(Pickering 51).

Racial stereotypes carry a certain perceptions of the Other – even though they have a minimal relationship to the external world and its reality. Despite being made of distorted images and ideas they are perceived as real (MacMaster 59). “So powerfully can stereotypes substitute for reality that the racist can see both black and Jew, even when they are directly perceived, qualities the very opposite of those that are being observed” (MacMaster 59). Stereotypes are considered inaccurate because they attribute certain propensities, dispositions and patterns of behaviors to a certain groups that are then, through the stereotypes, perceived as homogenuous entities (Pickering 4). This leads to the mindset that views members of these groups mainly through the stereotypical characteristics of that group while suppressing the perception of the real characteristics and traits of the individuals.

The scientist’s discovered evidence of the possibility that the negative stereotypes about African Americans that are labeling them as carefree and indolent are strengthened by the perceived socioeconomic disparities between whites and blacks.

“The lower the perceived economic status of minority groups, the greater the tendency

6 of whites to rate the dispositional traits of minorities unfavorably” (Timothy 403).

When whites perceive blacks in the subsidiary position in the society – in their minds they accept the stereotypes as the cause of this unfavorable position (Timothy 403).

There are several possible social motives that stand behind the creation and proliferation of stereotypes. Throughout history of mankind people were dependent on one another. Being on a good terms with others from one´s ingroup is a necessity – his live depends on them. The tendency to adhere to the others from one´s environment might be seen as a “biological predisposition” (Fiske 305). Outgroup members incite fear of the unknown while people from our social circles represent the safe harbor in people´s minds.

The need for belonging is the main social motive – people strive to create rapport with other people because their physical safety and wellbeing stems directly from their social life. Therefore people are driven to put an effort into strengthening their interpersonal relationships. Along with the creation of these relationships also arises a need to understand people around us in depth and not only through lenses of

“stereotypical approximation” that leads to labeling and generalizing others (Fiske 305).

One that is trying to belong also accepts values of those around him – including stereotypes. “More broadly, people motivated to belong will comply with perceived group norms regarding expressing or not expressing stereotypes” (Fiske 306). In order to fit in people tend to adjust their opinions, worldviews and behavior in order to fit in.

It is necessary for one´s smooth existence as a part of a larger whole to get the insight into the nature of other members of one´s community. When people see someone they analyze him and start to ascribe certain labels to that person. “… people detect each other´s probable gender, race, and age within milliseconds of meeting, and they especially quickly identify group members” (Fiske 306). People´s perception is

7 creating more positive feedback when their meet someone from their ingroup – and even more readily when it comes to labeling. The response to the outgroup members is slower. (Fiske 306). When it comes to groups that differ in some aspects from the norm there is a tendency to linguistically mark them – the speed of their categorization is higher than in the case of the groups that do not carry such labels. For example gender is ascribed to women more than to men and the same goes for the skin color. The property of race is perceived more in blacks than whites because whiteness is considered as a standard state of being (Fiske 307).

Another social motive is the drive to boost one´s self-esteem which is beneficial for happy existence as a part of a group. For example the members of group targeted by stereotypes can improve their confidence by identifying the negative opinions as a prejudice. The threat to unhealthily high groups self-esteem can lead to increase of prejudice and discrimination that group. This may result in discrepancy between how one perceive his own group and the outgroup (Fiske310). “One´s own group members allegedly experience an array of complex human emotions, whereas outgroup members experience only the primitive primary emotions of animals” (Fiske 310).

Trusting as a social motive stems from the need for mutual trust when cooperating with others. This automatic anticipation of good responses from members of one´s group builds trust that is a social biding power – this inevitably creates certain favoritism when evaluating one´s ingroup. When the outsider wants to become part of a group he needs to gain trust of its members. However, when there is need for cooperation with outugroup members it eventually leads to mutual dependence and that eventually results in trusting relationship - leading to the suppression of discrimination

(Fiske 311).

8 Because stereotypes partly fulfill a role of protectors of established beliefs, they tend to be very pervasive and can be transferred across generations, classes, and societies (MacMaster 59). The main focus of this work will be the process of transmission of African American stereotypes between two continents - America and

Europe. As a response to the British slave-trading and colonialist expansion, an ideology was created to justify the enslavement of the people of color. Perceived as irresponsible without the ability to govern themselves, they needed a guiding hand

(Pickering 13). The idea that blacks are childlike in nature and are in a need of a firm hand of a slave master will be further developed during the period of the American institution of slavery.

9 2. Origins of Blackface

The European blackface tradition is several centuries old. “Ben Jonson's early court plays from the beginning of the fifteenth century, The Masque of Blackness and

The Masque of Beauty, were the first recorded instances of players actually darkening their skin” (West). Johnson wrote the masques on the request of Queen Anne because she wanted to perform in a blackface with her ladies. Another example is the actors from sixteenth-century England that wore masks while portraying Moors. In

Shakespeare's play Othello from 1610 is a character of “sooty devil” that was portrayed by actors with darkened skin (West). It is clear that origin of blackface lies in Europe nevertheless it was Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice that transformed it into the massively popular and influential phenomenon.

The performer Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice blackened his face with burnt cork and danced his Jim Crow dance for the first time in 1828 (Image 1). He portrayed a satirical black character Jim Crow and by doing it he became a cornerstone for the blackface performances that soon followed. Nobody could have guessed back then that this impersonation of blacks will lead to the phenomenon that shapes perception of

African Americans even today. The name Jim Crow was later used for the laws restricting freedom of African Americans in the years that followed the end of the period of Reconstruction in 1877 (Pilgrim Who Was Jim crow).

Blacks were prohibited from dancing because of religious reasons and this prohibition is indirectly responsible for the creation of Jim Crow. However, as the dancing was defined as crossing one's feet, the slaves very soon figured out a loophole - simply dancing without crossing legs. It is presumed that Daddy Rice saw an old and physically handicapped slave performing this unusual dance that involved shuffling legs

10 on the ground. Inspired by this sight Rice borrowed his clothes and performed the imitation of his dance. His audience loved it and so Jim Crow was born (Pospíšil 17).

Due to the fact that his Jim Crow dance was a hit he later on performed in

Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and New York. His career as an impersonator of black led him all the way to London and Dublin. Through minstrelsy, he was able to become rich and famous. As he improved his performances he added other characters to the stage – namely Sambo, Coon, and Dandy. Meanwhile, the character of Jim Crow inspired other entrepreneurs to adopt it in their performances

(Pilgrim Who Was Jim Crow). They continued in the tradition and “ . . . darkened their faces with burnt cork, painted grotesquely exaggerated white mouths over their own, donned woolly black wigs . . . ” (Green).

The Virginian Minstrels were created in 1843 in New York. These four white men performed in the blackface since 1843. Imitating blacks and singing, dancing, playing various musical instruments, they were an immediate success. These Minstrels were just the first of many pioneers in one of the first native forms of entertainment in

America. The Christy Minstrels from 1845 enhanced their shows with a few ideas of their own (Pilgrim Who Was Jim Crow). While performing on Broadway for ten years they developed a setting that was performed by entrepreneurs seated in a semicircle.

Apart from the interlocutor all performers were in a blackface and wore swallow-tailed coats with striped trousers (Image 2). The one called Mr. Tambo played the tambourine and Mr. Bones played on clappers (Encyclopaeia Britannica). Their songs were called

Ethiopian melodies and included harmonized choruses. Interlocutor exchanged jokes with other. The peaks of the popularity of the minstrel shows were the 1850s and the

1870s (Pilgrim Who Was Jim Crow). They thrived through the decades shortly before

11 and after the Civil War. 30 blackface minstrel companies were performing in America during these years (Green).

African Americans started to participate in Minstrelsy after emancipation in

1865. They hoped to promote the idea of equality through their performances; combining the elements of vaudeville and minstrelsy they used the stages to spread the

African American ideology (Summary of the History of Minstrelsy). Later on, the

Minstrels were replaced by the newborn film industry and radio. However, the already present blackface lived on through these new media. One of the most known movies featuring the actor with a blackened face is Jazz Singer from 1927. 26 million

Americans that went to see this movie are a testament to the enduring popularity of blackface.

The image of the blacks that minstrels had painted in their shows was very persistent and influential throughout the American history. Many of viewers from the west and north had no experience with African Americans and so the shows were even more powerful because these viewers knew blacks only from their satirical portrayal

(Green). The idea behind minstrel shows may have been harmless one at first but this form of entertainment played an important part in dehumanizing blacks. On stage, they were shown as lazy and stupid and these notions that were further spread by the popular entertainment helped to justify the institution of slavery.

12 3. Blackface Caricatures

Some caricatures that emerged with the minstrel shows, like childish Sambo or

Lazy Coon, were mentioned earlier. The origin of many of these blackface characters can be traced back to European Renaissance. In the fifteenth century, Europeans came into the closer contact with African culture and stereotyping was a product of the meeting between two different cultures.

During the times when political tension between the north and the south intensified, the Minstrel shows were very popular. Knowingly or not, the Minstrels had become warriors in the war against the abolitionist movement. Sambo, the image of a happy slave promoted by blackface performances was an ideological tool that supported people who claimed that African Americans are inferior to the whites. Not only they needed supervision because they were unable to take proper care of themselves, but also the slaves were apparently happy and content in their inferior position. (Pospíšil 18)

Even though these images had a little in common with the reality this lie had been planted into the minds of white audiences and started to bloom into the blissful ignorance. (Pospíšil 15)

In the following pages some of these stereotypical caricatures will be discussed in a greater detail. Namely Sambo, Coon, Pickaninny, Jezebel, Savage, and Brute. The origin of these blackface characters can be traced back into Europe alongside with their impact on the European imagery of African Americans. Other more prominent figures like Uncle Tom and Mammy are not described as their influence on the European culture is minimal.

13 Sambo

The image of simple-minded, lazy and childlike blacks existed a long time before Sambo emerged as an iconic figure created by the Minstrels. This stereotype came into the existence during the seventeenth-century colonization but probably already existed even sooner (Boskin 7). “In all probability, the American Sambo was conceived in Europe, particularly in England, and drew his first breath with the initial contact with West Africans during the early slave-trading years” (Boskin 7).

Africans did not comprehend the civilization in the way the European did. The result was the creation of “the laughing black” stereotype. In the minds of Europeans, blacks were too simple to comprehend their sorrows. In anonymous work depicting

Portugal from Tuscan written in 1578-80, Portuguese were described as a downcast and melancholic people, while African slaves that they owned were cheerful (Lowe 25).

African´s were praised for their natural knack for music and dancing during the

European Renaissance as it was an important part of the contemporary European culture

(Lowe 35). This was however exaggerated into “...the stereotype of black Africans unable to control their urges to make music, sing, and dance, thus turning something very positive into something more negative, linked yet again to black African lack of civilization and self-control” (Lowe 35). The stereotypical qualities typically associated with black slaves were laziness and their lack of responsibility. The stereotype of lazy

Africans has one probable origin. Europeans believed that inhabitants of Africa lived in abundance without any work required and therefore they were not accustomed to a hard labor – therefore when they were employed in Europe they did as little work as they were used to do back in their homeland (Lowe 28). “This stereotype of black laziness is to be found in European sources already in the second half of the fifteenth century”

(Lowe 28).

14 The central image behind Sambo figure was that of a happy slave. In the United

States, the notion of blacks being happy and content in their subsidiary position was particularly widespread during the period of slavery. Due to supposed laziness and carefree demeanor blacks needed guidance and an oversight. Sambo´s childlike spirit and inability to take proper care of himself he needed oversight of his master. This served as a justification for the enslavement of African Americans in the eyes of the public (Green). Even though Sambo originally came to be as a valiant, or rather humorous, defender of slavery, with time he became much more. This stereotype expanded and lived life of its own through: “...music titles and lyrics, folk sayings, literature, children's stories and games, postcards, restaurant names and menus, and thousands of artifacts” (Green). One of the films that starred this caricature was

Rhapsody in Black and Blue from 1932 (Pospíšil 18).

The image of the happy slave embedded into the Sambo caricature served as an argument supporting the slave. If slaves themselves were content with their situation than the institution of slavery must be good for them (Pilgrim The Coon Caricature).

Coon

This caricature´s name is derived from the word raccoon - adding to the tradition of associating African Americans with animals. The Coon caricature shares some similarities with Sambo. He was lazy, silly and always reluctant to work. While united in the childish demeanor the Coon was happy with his current situation unlike. To sum it up: “...the coon was a Sambo gone bad” (Pilgrim The Coon Caricature).

While the true origin of the notion of lazy slave lies in Renaissance Europe, as was already mentioned in the text dedicated to the Sambo stereotype, it is also a result of encounters with rebellious black slaves. Some of them tried to escape their duty by

15 running away, feigning illness and damaging the tools. The slave masters interpreted the lack of effort as laziness and stupidity even though in reality majority of slaves were forced to work hard (Pilgrim The Coon Caricature).

The caricature was adopted by the performers of Minstrel shows. Coon was known under some other names like Zip Coon or Urban Coon (Pilgrim The Coon

Caricature). His popularity increased after the Civil War (Pospíšil). While still being lazy this new Coon was dressed in gaudy clothes. “He thought he was as smart as white people; however, his frequent malapropisms and distorted logic suggested that his attempt to compete intellectually with whites was pathetic” (Pilgrim The Coon

Caricature). The source of humor was his pointless effort to become civilized and educated – he was ridiculed because he failed miserably in his aspirations. This satire of free blacks served as an argument for segregation because they were clearly not capable of integration into the civilized society (Pospíšil 18).

The first film featuring the Coon is Wooing and Wedding of a Coon from 1905 by Thomas A. Edison. Another example is the character of Rastus that appears in films:

How Rastus Got His Turkey (1910), Rastus and Chicken, Pickaninnies and Watermelon

(1910), and Chicken Thief (1911) (Pospíšil 18). The actor Stepin Fetchit is the most famous portrayer of Coon, Originally named Lincoln Theodore Perry, he adopted this pseudonym when he came to Hollywood as a member of “Step and Tech It” comedy team. Under this name, he performed for the first time in the film In Old Kentucky

(1927). His characters were slow, lazy, and unable to pronounce difficult words and often received abuse from the hands and mouths of whites. Even though many African

Americans consider Stepin Fetchit a bootlicker he was the first top billing black actor and a millionaire that gave a slight depth to the originally one dimensional Coon

Character (Pilgrim The Coon Caricature).

16 Pickaninny

The origin of this caricature of black infants is in the novel Uncle Tom´s Cabin.

A character of pitiful and wild slave girl in tattered attire, penned by Harriet Beecher

Stowe, was written in order to provoke sympathy and highlight the cruelty of slavery.

She believed that slavery was responsible for the existence of children like Topsy.

Nevertheless, Minstrel shows put a different spin on the original character from the book. Even though new Topsy retained some qualities of her older twin sister from

Uncle Tom´s Cabin, her initially compassion worthy dirty skin, quirky hair, and tattered clothes were now the source of a comic relief. She was cheerful and she relished in her misery. This image of the caricature downplayed the brutality of the slavery. This newborn Pickaninny retained her popularity from the beginning of the 1850s until the

20th century (Pilgrim The Picaninny Caricature).

Pickaninnies were predominantly unemployed and parentless. In print media, like advertising and postcards, these wild and uncultivated children were mostly occupied with using the toilet, enthusiastically eating watermelons and being eaten by wild animals (Image 3). Their silliness served as a demonstration of the supposedly inferior intellect of blacks (Coombs 92). Their stereotypical appearance included:

“...bulging eyes, unkempt hair, red lips, and wide mouths” (Pilgrim The Picaninny

Caricature). Another common feature were the Pickaninny pigtails.

Pickaninnies, if they were lucky, wore old and tattered clothes, and in other cases they were completely nude. This implied their lack of care about civilized decency and this flaw is also transferred to their hypothetical parents - further enhancing the notion that blacks are uncivilized. Along with nudity came sexualization of the depicted black children. Not only the lack of clothes inevitably leads to genitalia being exposed

17 but also their sexual features, in this case unusually large buttocks, were emphasized

(Pilgrim The Picaninny Caricature).

Pickaninnies, often nude, feral, and hungry, are put in a parallel with animals.

“On postcards black children were often referred to as coons, monkeys, crows, and opossums” (Pilgrim The Picaninny Caricature). They usually encounter wild beasts that are trying to devour them. Because of their poverty they do not have the money to buy food so they have to steal it. Their diet is predominantly composed of watermelons and fried chicken. Nakedness, numerous encounters with animals and nonexistent upbringing degraded them to beings more closely related to animals rather than humans

(Pilgrim The Picaninny Caricature).

Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the kinetoscope and the kinetograph, captured black children in one of his camera experiment in 1893. He called them interesting side effects. In 1904 he released the film Ten Pickaninnies – this time his work featured the animated African American children goofing around. This was definitely not for the last time that the movie screen portrayed the Pickaninny. The most famous performer of Pickaninnies from the 1920s was Farina. Her characters wore pickaninny pigtails and clothes that made her sex indistinguishable. She could also be regularly seen eating chicken or watermelons. Also Prissy, the character from Gone

With the Wind (1939), bears similarities to the caricature despite being older than usual

Pickaninny (Pilgrim The Picaninny Caricature).

Jezebel

The stereotype is named after Jezebel that “...has been saddled with a reputation as the bad girl of the Bible, the wickedest of women. This ancient queen has been denounced as a murderer, prostitute, and enemy of God…” (Gaines). It is one of three

18 prevalent stereotypes that were imposed on black women along with Mammy and

Sapphire. They emerged in the nineteenth century and served as a tool to validate the subjugation of African American women (Gammage 25). Words that were used to describe the Jezebel were: “...seductive, alluring, worldly, beguiling, tempting, and lewd” (Pilgrim The Jezebel Stereotype). Seeking sexual encounters with white men, she was perceived as a threat to the integrity of a white family (Gammage 25).

Origin of the Jezebel stereotype lies in the early 1630s when European culture started to clash with that of Africa. Dressed European travelers came into contact with nearly naked Africans, and in their minds the lack of clothing was a proof of the unrestrained sexuality of Blacks. Their testimony gave birth to the sexualization of

African Americans (Pilgrim The Jezebel Stereotype). Africans were judged in the comparison with the fifteenth and sixteenth-century European morals. “Observation of and contact with Africans of the African continent resulted in Europeans categorizing black Africans as libidinous, incapable of restraint and sexually uncontrolled” (Lowe

29). Catholic society governed by men judged sexual behavior harshly and particularly female slaves were suffering. A lack of civilization was in the eyes of Europeans a direct indicator of sexually promiscuous behavior (Lowe 29).

One example of European tendency to eroticize black women is Richard

Brome´s play The English Moor, or The Mock Marriage from the middle of the seventeenth century. In the play, a white wife is subjected to her husband´s friend´s sexual advances and remarks about her buttocks, after her husband has painted her face black. “Black skin denoted both access and enticement” (Lowe 100-101). The popularity of black women being portrayed as lustful courtesans by the court performers is a play from the seventeenth-century Masque of Beauty written by Ben Johnson.

19 Wearing black mask in the play invokes the exotic sexuality of black women (Lowe

101).

The idea of “the lusty Moor” from the Shakespear´s pen, that painted him as highly sexual and violent, was imposed upon all blacks and imported into the American colonies. Eroticized and exotic Cleopatra was also fitted the template that was used to excuse the enslavement of blacks. (Coombs 94) The supposed insatiable sexual appetite of black women was abused by slaveholders that often took advantage of their slaves.

The Jezebel stereotype was utilized to rationalize white masters´ sexual advances.

Instead of being victims of a rape, whites justified the abuse by imposing stereotype of lustfulness upon black women. In the minds of slaveholders, their female slaves were subjected to what they desired themselves (Coombs 94).

The image of promiscuity imposed upon the black women was strengthened by the procedures connected with slavery. The slave auctions required slaves to be naked so their future owners could examine them. Despite the enforced nature of this nudity, it was still perceived as a sign of moral depravity. Alongside the fact that slaves themselves wore ragged clothes, when compared to fully dressed whites, this only deepened the prejudice against blacks (Pilgrim The Jezebel Stereotype).

As was discussed earlier, Pickaninnies were sometimes depicted with large buttocks. Often they were depicted hiding behind objects provocatively or were included in an imagery of outright sexual innuendo – this and their lacking clothing causes that Pickaninny is sometimes sexually objectified and synonymous with Jezebel

(Pilgrim The Picaninny Stereotype). One of the earlier examples of the Jezebel caricature can be found in the movie The Birth of a Nation from 1915. Lydia Brown is a mulatto and is highly seductive and sexual. Using her body and erotic charm she

20 deceives her white lover Senator Stoneman. However, the appearance of this stereotype was uncommon in the American cinema at that time (Pilgrim The Jezebel Stereotype).

For entire decades African American women were unable to find employment in the entertainment industry outside of the prevalent Mammy stereotype or in the role of a servant. Black audiences were tired of these repeating themes so as a result, the period of blaxploitation started in the 1970s (Gammage 26). In over two hundred of these second-rate blaxploitation movies blacks themselves popularized a new batch of negative stereotypes namely Brute, Buck, and Jezebel. They were supposed to capture the reality of African American lives but these movies were oftentimes filmed by white producers and directors. The prevalent themes were “...corrupt police and politicians, pimps, drug dealers, violent criminals, prostitutes, and whores” (Pilgrim The Jezebel

Stereotype). Even though blaxploitation deepened many stereotypes it was supported by

African American patrons because important parts of the plot included blacks fighting for themselves against white corrupt policemen (Pilgrim The Jezebel Stereotype).

Blaxploitation era started with the film Sweet Sweetback´s Baadasssss Song in

1971 - triggering a chain of movies that further stereotyped black women as Jezebels.

Actresses did not have too much choice but to play characters fitting into the aggressively sexual template. The mainstream movies with an urban setting often included the character of a black whore supposedly in order to make them look more realistic. Films like Taxi Driver (1976), Deconstructing Harry (1997), and Mona Lisa

(1986) all included a role of a black prostitute (Pilgrim The Jezebel Stereotype).

The stereotype of sexually promiscuous and lustful Jezebel started in

Renaissance Europe. It survived throughout the entire centuries and was imported into the United States. It existed throughout the slavery period and Jim Crow era and

21 surpassed the asexual image of Mammy in the popular culture (Pilgrim The Jezebel

Stereotype).

Savage

After the end of African American enslavement, this stereotype erupted into the argument for segregation. The argument was that blacks were mere savages that needed to be confined (Coombs 95). The Savage stereotype painted African Americans as apelike primitives. This resulted in exhibitions that put blacks on display like 1903 in the New York Zoological Park. African Americans were exhibited alongside the chimpanzee practically reducing them to animals in the eyes of public. This only played to the portrayal of blacks as mere monkeys (Green).

African Americans were thought to be anatomically different from Caucasians.

Also their sensitivity to pain was considered lower than that of whites. This premise was used as an excuse for the harsh punishments that slaves receive - resistance to pain enabled them to withstand cruel treatment (Green). The savage caricature included blacks stylized into tribal attire and often painted them as cannibals. It was used in marketing to sell products like tobacco or alcohol. “A can of “Niggerhair Smoking

Tobacco” from the 1880s features an afroed native-looking person with pierced nose and earlobes looking off to the right and slightly baring teeth” (Coombs 96). (Image 4)

Brute

The Brute caricature is a more violent and brutal version of the Savage stereotype. It proclaims the idea that African Americans are dangerous and aggressive beings. Targets of their bestial and sexual urges are often white women (Pilgrim The

Brute Caricature).

22 While the stereotype was not used in marketing, unlike Savage, it found its place in the film industry and was responsible for waves of aggression that targeted blacks

(Coombs 96). The origin of the Brute is shared with the Jezebel caricature. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century Europe all blacks were stereotyped as immoderately sexual a highly physically capable (Lowe 29). “The idea of unreasonable violence was also associated with Africans living in England or Europe” (Lowe 105). Among other characteristics ascribed to them were also criminality and alcoholism. These preconceptions stem from the fact that blacks were not accustomed to the accepted behavior that Europeans considered civilized (Lowe 28). Presence of these views in

Renaissance Europe suggests that the Brute was present long before it emerged in

America.

This stereotype surfaced during the years that followed after the Civil War.

While Sambo as his harmless predecessor justified the institution of slavery, this new caricature emerged as a response to the freedom that African Americans gained. The cheerful Sambo stereotype was no longer of use. However, the imagery of the vile, rampaging, sex-starved black driven by the sexual urge aimed towards white women served as an argument that whites should be cautious about the free African American population. It was the embodiment of fear that erupted in the white population after the racial order has changed (Pospíšil 20). And so the image that depicted African

Americans as mindless brutes contributed to the creation of Black Codes. These laws restricted the freedom of blacks. For example, black vagrants could have been arrested by local authorities. Often unable to pay the fines they were forced to work for local farmers in order to pay them back. (Pospíšil 20)

Gus from the film Birth of a Nation is the most famous representation of the

Brute caricature. The film itself was a clear indicator of the shift that happened during

23 the reconstruction period of 1915. Ku Klux Klan was heroically portrayed as they lynched an African American Brute and tamed him. Later on, Brute served as an excuse for lynching blacks and the violence against them (Green). The apparent shift from the

Sambo to the Brute during the Reconstruction period is explained by the argument that without the supervision of slave-owners, the freshly freed blacks started reverting back to their innate bestial urges (Pilgrim The Brute Caricature).

In the center of this image was an idea that nearly all male blacks were rapists.

This stereotype was perpetuated during the twentieth century by the:”...anti-black propaganda that found its way into scientific journals, local newspapers, and best- selling novels…” (Pilgrim The Brute Caricature). The supposed frequency of incidents where black males raped white women served as a justification for lynching and violence against them. This violence against African Americans continued from the

Reconstruction period until the World War II. For the decrease in lynching is responsible the activities of civil rights movement in the 1950s and the 1960s. The brute did not disappear from the white´s perception of blacks but it lost some of its power over their opinions on the matter (Pilgrim The Brute Caricature).

From the 1920s to the 1940s Coons and Toms were the stereotypes that black male actors were forced to portray. In the 1960s and the 1970s, the roles featuring black

Brutes started to appear in blaxploitation movies. Targets of these brutes were whites, often corrupt policemen. Melvin Van Peebles played such a portrayal of the Brute in the film Sweet Sweetback´s Baadasssss Song from 1971 that “...is falsely accused of a crime. On the lam, he assaults several men, rapes a black woman, and kills corrupt police officers” (Pilgrim The Brute Caricature).

In the 1980s and 1990s the Brute stereotype was still very much alive. This urban interpretation took on a guise of an anonymous African American criminal that

24 suddenly attacked. While being the on scene for a very short period of time he was more of a plot twist than a real character. His brutal deeds including murder or rape qualify him to be a representation of the classic personification of the Brute (Pilgrim The Brute

Caricature).

25 4. European Blackface and Stereotypes

Most of the Europeans had no actual experience with a black person between

1870 and 1914, yet the stereotyping occurred nonetheless (MacMaster 58). The stereotypes that revolved around the blacks were an inversion of the Christian values projected onto them. This created an association with taboos like cannibalism and heathenism. As a result, blacks stood in the opposition to the civilization as the

Europeans knew it (MacMaster 61). In the minds of Europeans, the blacks were positioned further from humanity and closer to the world of savagery (MacMaster 58).

The fifteenth century was a breaking point that initiated the main diffusion of the anti-black stereotypes throughout Europe. This was the result of the exploration and creation of settlements on the west coast of Africa. However, the prejudice against blacks started to grow its roots into the European culture even sooner because the

African culture stood in the opposition to the Christian values (MacMaster 60). The black skin became a source of negative connotations for Europeans. It´s color carried

“...the symbolism of fearful night, of death, hell, the devil, witchcraft, and all that was the most evil and sinister” (MacMaster 60). The notion of the supposed savagery of blacks was among the first stereotypes ascribed to the blacks. Another prejudice emerged before the sixteenth century. Blacks were perceived as bestial in nature and this created an association with the sexual prowess. The stereotypes evolved further in the seventeenth century as the comparison between blacks and apes was drawn and their physiology was thought to be alike as a result (MacMaster 60). A new stereotype emerged in the eighteenth century in association with the forced servitude. It had such a big impact on the perception of blacks in Europe that the black skin was perceived as a sign of the enslavement (MacMaster 61). In the nineteenth century, it was Harriet

Beecher Stowe´s novel Uncle Tom´s Cabin that was responsible for spreading the

26 stereotype of docile and submissive blacks through Europe (MacMaster 82). As a result of a whole centuries of growing and developing anti-black stereotypes, blacks were perceived by the Europeans as mentally, physically and culturally separate from them

(MacMaster 58).

The abolitionist movement abolished the slavery in Europe by the 1860s and

America soon followed with the defeat of the Confederation during the American Civil

War (1861-5). More respectful notions about blacks started to spread among the

European public and became slowly dissolving the prejudice about their supposed savagery and inferiority. However there was a change in the approach to the anti-black racist ideas after the 1870s. The efforts to annihilate deeply rooted stereotypes were met with a new wave of opposition that arose within the society (MacMaster 62). The first symptoms of change for the worse can be traced back to Britain. The work of Thomas

Carlyle Discourse on the negro question (1861-5) was one of the sparks that ignited the fear that blacks will suddenly yield to their innate savagery. Another fuel was provided by James Hunt that presented blacks in his paper On the Negro´s place in the Nature from 1863 as a wholly different species that were distinct from the Europeans. Hunt claimed that the American slave society is an ideal environment for Africans, especially when contrasted to the rule of barbarism in Africa. He was among a few that shared such opinions at that time but Jamaican rebellion that erupted at Morant Bay in October

1865 boosted these racist notions in the public opinion (MacMaster 64). “As during

American Civil War, the British press indulged in sensational accounts of black atrocities, horrible mutilations, the drinking of rum and gunpowder from victim´s skulls, and … the rape of white woman” (MacMaster 64). People like Thomas Carlyle and

John Hunt served as the heralds of the imperialist ideology that proclaimed the inferiority of blacks – their supposed inability to govern themselves and create a

27 civilized society in the European sense. They argued that their uncivilized nature could only be remedied under the oversight of whites and should they ever give them a freedom they would instantly revert back to their barbaric roots (MacMaster 65). This is a clear indication that European views on the blacks were heavily influenced by the

Brute stereotype that emerged in America shortly after the Civil War. The collateral damage was the scrutiny imposed on the relationships between black male and white female. These negative attitudes towards blacks were partly imported by Americans visitors – one example being the African American actor Ira Aldridge that played

Othello in London. The intimate contact that he portrayed on stage with the actress

Ellen Tree incited racist campaign in 1833. Nevertheless it was until the 1860s that the public was mostly tolerant – the main wave of racism erupted alongside the age of imperialism (MacMaster 72).

Minstrelsy in England

England was not only a gateway through which the American stereotypes poured into Europe but the Minstrel shows in their beginnings were also part of its culture and England partly shared this piece of the history with America. In 1836 T. D.

Rice started performing his Jim Crow persona in the Surrey Theater in London. It was a hit mostly among the working class because these shows targeted the higher classes and made them subjects of ridicule. These shows also included racial humor – despite the racial ridicule it invoked a sympathy among the audiences and alluded to the antislavery sentiment that was present within British society (Nowatzki 60).

Blackface was present within English culture for several centuries as was discussed in the previous chapters. However, the probable English ancestor of the

American Minstrel shows comes from the eighteenth century. “The masked Harlequin of eighteenth-century English pantomime was borrowed from Italian commedia

28 dell’arte . . . ” (Nowatzki 71). There were also other similar occurrences of blackface during the Elizabethan and Stuart era. Among the other predecessors were also “ . . .

Thomas Southerne’s 1695 stage adaptation of Aphra Behn’s 1688 novel Oroonoko,

Isaac Bickerstaffe’s 1768 opera The Padlock, and George Coleman’s 1787 opera Inkle and Yarico” (Nowatzki 71). One of the first actors that popularized blackface performances was Charles Matthews. He visited America and brought this form of entertainment with him back to England during the early 1820s (Nowatzki 71). Being sort of a pioneer in this area he prepared the English audiences for T.D. Rice´s raggedy

Jim Crow. The popularity of the Virginian Minstrels during the 1840s inspired a lot of other British performers to take on this tradition – they started to perform in a blackface

(Nowatzki 60). The recoil to the abolitionism in the 1870s was also reflected in the

Minstrel shows. In the 1860s, when the Minstrel shows were still thriving and racist ideologies grew in power, the blacks were portrayed in a more negative light and slavery was painted in more positive terms (Nowatzki 64). This was caused by the

American ideologies that started to took hold of the British public´s opinions (Nowatzki

65).

Minstrelsy and abolitionism were the two main driving forces behind the representation of blacks in the British literature. It was the blackface and the Minstrelsy that served as a template for depictions of blacks in the Victorian novels and travelogues

– whether these works dealt with slavery and abolitionism, both tapped into this imagery. Also the abolitionists and their opponent´s racial views were shaped by the

Minstrelsy (Nowatzki 80). This was projected into the antislavery literature. The

English editions of Uncle Tom´s Cabin included the illustrations by George Cruikshank,

George Thompson and other artists that protruded the satirical portrayals of blacks

(Image 5). In the pictures they had “ . . . the big eyes, wide grins, and wild postures . . .

29 ” (Nowatzki 69). These visual stereotypes were very similar to those speeded by the

Minstrels and promoted the racial prejudice against African Americans in the minds of the Victorian public (Nowatzki 69). It is no wonder that the Minstrelsy proved itself to be a useful tool to spread a criticism against abolitionism. The blackface stereotypes and negative views on the abolitionism stood behind the creation of Bleak House written by

Charles Dickens (185-53). This also included Vanity Fair (1847-48) and The

Adventures of Philip (1862) written by William Makepeace Thackeray (Nowatzki 80).

These authors based their criticism on the notions spread by the American Minstrelsy and their works mark the change in the public opinion about abolitionism and they highlight the spreading racism. This shows how blackface created a negative image of

Africans Americans (Nowatzki 81). In Thackeray's works, his characters are often modeled after the blackface caricatures. In Vanity Fair, the black character Sambo is docile and constantly smiling servant living up to his name – named after Sambo the caricature of a happy slave. Rhoda, an easily excitable rich mulatto with a wooly hair, wears a ridiculous amount of jewelry and accessories - her character strongly resembles the Zip Coon caricature (95). In The Adventures of Philip there is also a character inspired by Zip Coon – Grenville Woolcomb. He is stingy and “ . . . shares Zip Coon’s overdeveloped sense of fashion, and he is frequently depicted as underbred and ignorant” (Nowatzki 95). These characters serve as an argument against the possibility of blacks having wealth and political power in England - very similarly to the argument against black emancipation that Zip Coon represented in America (Nowatzki 96).

Also the Pickaninny caricature made its appearance in the British literature in the book Little Black Sambo written by Helen Berman and published in England in

1899. The book does not follow usual blackface stereotypes like laziness, foolishness, and inability to speak in standard English nevertheless the illustrations resembled the

30 Minstrel imagery and the name Sambo is a reference to the anti-black caricature (Image

6). Drawings of other characters were also similar to some of the blackface stereotypes.

Sambo´s mother Black Mumbo, though not corpulent, looked like a typical Mammy and his father Black Jumbo was dressed like a Dandy Coon. The book was very popular from the start and was also printed in the America by a renowned publisher Frederick, however the book's popularity was slowly fading as the time progressed. “By the 1960s the book was seen as a remnant of a racist past” (Pickering “The Picaninny

Caricature”). A new surge of interest has sparked in the middle of 1990s and so it seems that the story of Little Black Sambo will live on (Pickering “The Picaninny

Caricature”).

The American and British Minstrelsy is more about communication of two cultures that were inspired by each other. A lot of similarities can be found when comparing imagery of these two countries – comparable rustic or dandy clothing of performers, demeanor of musical instrument players and masks that exaggerated their facial features (Nowatzki 73), The image of blacks that the Minstrelsy portrayed in

England was a combination of ideologies brought from the America and a tradition of blackface that was already present before Jim Crow conquered the stages of London.

The echo of this entertainment was The Black and White Minstrel Show broadcasted by

BBC until 1978 that featured performers wearing a blackface (Nowatzki 73).

Imagery

The most prevalent satirical imagery of African Americans was created in

America. Bulging white eyes, wooly hair and thick red lips is was almost the universal image of blacks in the American commercials, cartoons, and book illustrations and traces of this pictorial portrayal later on spread through Europe.

31 Golliwog is a doll that played a part in the diffusion of the Minstrel imagery through European popular culture. He comes from the mind of Florence Kate Upton that wrote a book The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls in 1895 where this character appears for the first time. The book tells a story about two Dutch dolls named Peg and Sarah

Jane which meet a scary black little gnome. The source of inspiration for Upton was a minstrel doll that she owned when she was a little child. Inspired by the attire of minstrels he “...wore bright red trousers, a red bow tie on a high collared white shirt, and a blue swallow-tailed coat” (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature). The original toy and the imaginary one from the book shared a similar ugliness and scary features

(Image 7).

Golliwog was not popular in the United States however, in England and Europe he was a hit. He appeared on the wide scale of items like “...postcards, jam jars, paperweights, brooches, wallets, perfume bottles, wooden puzzles, sheet music, wall paper, pottery, jewelry, greeting cards, clocks, and dolls” (Pilgrim The Golliwog

Caricature). Golliwog became quite popular very quickly in England and so when the original book was reprinted its name changed to The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg. Another twelve books were released and Golliwog conquered the first position in the title of these books (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

Golliwog from the books was not copyrighted so many authors assimilated this figure. As the time progressed the character that was originally silly and adventurous became more malicious and even uglier than before (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

The mass production of Golliwog dolls began in the early twentieth century. There were the five biggest companies that produced these dolls – Steiff, Schuco, and Levin from

Germany and Merrythough and Deans from Great Britain. Racial stereotypes in the

1970s even inspired the firm Steinff to produce Golliwog that looked like a gorilla. The

32 Golliwog doll was immensely popular in Europe during the first half of the twentieth century and it had only one competitor that succeeded him in popularity – the Teddy

Bear. (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

Golliwog was used for advertisement by many firms and helped to sell many different products. In the early 1900s, James Robertson & Sons - a British firm that made jams adopted this black figure as its trademark. The firm also sent badges with

Gollies playing sports to the loyal customers that sent coupons from their marmalade jars (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

The surge of racial conflict between blacks and whites that started in Britain in the 1960s meant a decline in popularity for Golliwog. The symbolism that he carried was suddenly perceived as racist and faced the opposition from the civil rights organizations and from many members of the British parliament – this lead to the destruction of many items carrying a Golliwog image. Also the books featuring this character were removed from libraries and dolls were no longer made in the amount they used to (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

One of the arguments that support the claim that the Golliwog figure is racist is the fact that in literature he was often described as vulgar and malicious. The example is the best-selling books from an English writer Enid Blyton. She included Golliwogs into many of her books and they are often depicted in the racially stereotypical way. In Here

Come Noddy Again from 1951 a Golliwog asks for help as under a presence in order to steal a car. In The Three Golliwogs there is a mention of the song Ten Little Niggers – this song tells a tale about ten black children that all die during its course and its text is a relic of Pickaninny stereotype. The reference to the song can still be found in the newest release of The Three Golliwogs from 1968 (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

33 In 1995 the Golliwog celebrated one hundredth year of his existence and the new boom of interest into Golliwog items followed. “This popularity continues today and is evidenced by numerous eBay and Yahoo internet auctions and the presence of several international Golliwog organizations” (Pilgrim The Golliwog Caricature).

Golliwog was inspired by the appearance of minstrels and born into this world through a book that itself contained racial stereotypes about blacks. Having been transformed into a mischievous creature over the course of passing years he is still a source of controversy.

The European advertising was also influenced by the American imagery and stereotypes about blacks. The similarity is apparent when comparing the ways in which certain products were advertised. For example, in the early twentieth century in America

Fairbank´s Gold Dust washing powder was sold with a help of the Gold Dust Twins - two African American twins washing each other until they were white (Coombs 91).

However the idea of bleaching black skin with a help of a detergent is even older. The idea hidden behind such campaigns “…is that black is “dirty” and white is both preferable and “clean” (Coombs 91-2). This approach to the advertising of soap was widespread even in Europe and quite popular. “German advertising made a full use of black stereotypes as in the promotion of chocolates (the Sarotti-Mohr from 1868),

Liebig´s soup, cigars and other products using images similar to appearance of

Golliwog (MacMaster 82). (Image 8) The Minstrel imagery also appeared in Russia during the early twentieth century. Before the fall of Tazirst regime, ragtime music and dancing was promoted through the posters with the sambo caricature (MacMaster 83).

Another very clear use of the Minstrel caricature, this time Pickaninny, could be found on the posters that advertised children's film Liten skär och alla små brokiga (Little

34 Pink and Brokiga) in Sweden. The character Hjärtat depicted as a little baby with braided hair and thick white lips (Image 9) looks like a typical Pickaninny (Jones).

Another example of how depictions of blacks in the Europe were influenced by the American caricatures can be found in comic. Tintin in the Congo (1931) by Hergé contains a lot of the colonial views that existed in the1930s in Belgium (Tintin in the

Congo). Tintin, the main protagonist of the comic, travels to Congo where he comes into contact with the locals that are depicted in the pictures in a classical manner – with huge red lips, wooly hair and white bulging eyes (Image 10). They are portrayed as lazy, stupid, childish also wearing spears and shields (Larson). Their silly and incompetent behavior fits into the Coon stereotype. Tintin is sometimes revered as a king and teaches them about their own homeland – Belgium. Another feature similar to the American anti-black stereotypes is the fact that they speak broken French. It seems that without a supervision of white Europeans they are unable to take care of themselves

- this only further deepens the allusions to the original Minstrel depictions imagery and stereotypes (Tintin in the Congo).

One of the strongest indicators of the influence of Blackface on the European depictions of blacks is the imagery. The most common feature is the big red lips and wooly hair. These physiological traits are often accompanied by formal attire that is similar to the clothes that original Minstrels wore as can be seen on the antique

Becherovka plaque from the Czech Republic (Image 11). The depiction of African

Americans in the European culture is still being influenced as can be seen in Asterix and

Obelix: The Mansions of the Gods, where only black characters are depicted with highlighted thick lips (Image 12).

35 Blackface

Blackface has its roots in Europe. Blacking up ones face and portraying different minorities was a source of entertainment long ago before the American massively successful form of entertainment emerged. However, many traditions including blackface that was imported originally imported into America returned back changed and distorted.

In The Netherlands, there is a blackface tradition and its origin can be linked to the Minstrel shows. Sinterklaas, the main figure of the holiday, was inspired by the historical character Saint Nicholas – he was a bishop of Myra in the 4th century and because of his proclaimed deeds of kindness, he was made a saint by the Catholic

Church. During the holiday he sails from Spain accompanied by his loyal servant –

Black Pete (Zwarte Pieten). The first mention of the name Zwarte Piet can be traced to

1891. As a part of the custom the children put their shoes by the fireplace. When

Sinterklaas visits their house on his horse his servant Black Pete climbs down the chimney a leaves gifts for them in these shoes (Tavares).

Originally in the Middle Ages Sinterklaas was accompanied by the devil but any companionship vanished from the tradition until the end of the nineteenth century when the old Sinterklaas was given a completely new fellow traveler – Black Pete. He appeared for the first time in the children's book Saint Nicholas and His Servant. This servant got his name later on as the other writers followed in the footsteps of

Schenkman. Black appearance of Black Pete started to be associated with his skin color when the Netherlands became a part of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. He originally took away the children that had been naughty in his sack however after the World War

II he became more of a comic figure and no longer administers the punishment

(Tavares).

36 Zwarte Pieten is always portrayed by a person wearing the blackface (Image 13).

“The actors paint their faces black with huge red lips, wear a curly wig and Moorish dress” (Tavares). His image as it is perceived and depicted by the public is that of a silly clown. It is interesting that the same qualities can be seen in the Dutch books for children in relation to the other black characters. Black Pete, alongside with blacks in general, is described in these books as having an “... enlarged red lips, enlarged white teeth, and enlarged and bulging eyes” (Tavares). These characteristics are very similar to those that were popularized by the American Minstrels.

Among other factors that suggest that Black Pete is influenced by the American stereotypes is the fact that he is in the subsidiary position – it is Sinterklaas that does all the decision making. When Sinterklaas is seated Black Pete is always standing and he is always ready to hold a staff or a book for him. While he performs his playful escapades he is supervised by the white figure – this alludes to the theme of slave master overseeing the careless black slave. The childish and silly behavior of Zwarte Pieten and his appearance is the embodiment of the Sambo stereotype. As a result, presently the tradition faces criticism because some of its features are considered racist. For example

The Global American Congress issued a petition in 2003 demanding that the character

Black Pete will be no longer part of the tradition (Tavares).

Another example of how blackface changed the original tradition can be traced to Cornish fishing town of Padstow. Here the folk tradition of dancing in masks was influenced so strongly that it was renamed to the “Darkie Day” around the year 1900.

Participants of this tradition inspired by minstrels wore a blackface, sang songs, and played the ukulele and accordion. “Photographs of the inter-war Lord Mayor´s procession in Norwich show locals blacked up as naked savages, carrying spears and

37 bows” (MacMaster 81). This continued until 1998 when it faced the criticism of the

Cornwall Council for the racial Equality (MacMaster 81).

The three Wise Men is another European tradition that includes blackface and even though its origin is not connected to the Minstrelsy it was subtly influenced by it.

This day is celebrated in the honor of the Three Wise men – Melchior, Caspar and

Balthasar. According to the Bible, they visited the baby Jesus after his birth. In Spain, this is celebrated by huge parades that are held on 5th January and include hundreds of performers. City councilors traditionally appear in the roles of the Three Wise men and because Balthasar is black the councilor that takes his role usually blackens his face

(Jones). In Germany and other European countries, the roles of the Three Kings are usualy played by children. Even though this tradition has no direct connection to the

Minstrelsy it was altered by its legacy – quite often those that impersonate Balthasar have lips painted red (Image 14).

Another tradition that also includes blackface is Carnival. The origins of wearing satirical mascaras in Germany lie in the 1800s. In the western part of the country, it developed as a mockery of their contemporary French rulers. Today´s costumes are often embodiments of various racial stereotypes including those about African

Americans. Costumes of blacks that can be bought for Carnivals in Germany and other

European countries often include classical savage stereotype – consisting of bones, spears, and wooly hair. These are promoted by the pictures of the white models in a blackface appearing on the websites of costume shops (Stonington).

Blackface is also a source of controversy in the German theaters. The practice of whites blacking up in the German theaters was unnoticed by the public until 2012 when two Berlin theaters showed the images of white actors in a blackface to promote their plays. This incited the protest and ultimately led to the addition of a new term

38 “blackfacing” into the German language that describes the practice of wearing a black make-up (Sieg). Deutsches Theatre planned a production of Clybourne Park in 2011 written by Bruce Norris. The play includes two African American characters and its playwright canceled his permission for the production when the director insisted on featuring an actress in blackface in one of these roles even though the earlier productions at the Staatstheater Mainz included two African American actors.

Innocence by Dea Lother took Clybourne Park´s place and even though the casting instructions for the play were racially ambiguous two white actors were cast. On stage they were not only wearing a blackface but also had lips painted red consistently with the Minstrel appearances (Sieg).

Blackface also made a few appearances on German television. In 2013 fifty people appeared in blackface during the broadcast of Wetten Dass after they were dared by the show´s moderator (Sieg). Another instance of blackface occurred during the show Verstehen Sie Spass in 2016. The comedian Guido Cantz appeared in a blackface

– during the performance he spoke in broken English acted silly – his character was unable to realize that because he is black he cannot be a father to a white daughter

(Biss).

The European model also utilizes blackface and sometimes even succumbs to the stereotypes. The rising numbers of black make-up in mode can be traced back to

2009 when Vogue Paris published in its editorial photos of Lara Stone wearing a blackface. The magazines Numéro, L´Officel Hommes, and V soon followed in its steps.

Also, Vogue Netherlands featured in its editorial in 2013 a model Querelle Jasen with a blackened face (Sauers). While these images are not directly tied to the anti-black stereotypes some photographs can portray a deeply rooted prejudice. A French photographer Jean-Paul Goude focused his work on African American women. In his

39 pictures, they are objectified and eroticized. On the cover of his book Jungle Fever published in 1982 is a black woman in a cage with a warning sign – do not feed the animal (Image 15) (Sauers). This is a clear culmination of the Jezebel stereotype that stems from the sexualization of African American women. This stereotype leads to the success of Josephine Baker. She “ . . . was the first Black woman to star in a major cinematic production, Zouzou (1943) . . . “ (Gammage 26). Born in America in 1906 she often performed dressed in a banana shirt during her stay in Europe. Due to her exotic charm empowered by the Jezebel stereotype present within the Europe, she was very successful (Gammage 25). The success of her performances indicates that the supposed hyper-sexuality of blacks is a prevalent stereotype in Europe.

Nations like Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Germany that were among the major players in the exploitation of African continent during the period between 1875 and 1912 and anti-black stereotypes were distributed through official and unofficial propaganda as a useful tool to justify this exploitation of Africans.

(MacMaster 66). The remnants of these racist campaigns can be still found in these countries. England served as a gateway for the American anti-black stereotypes through which they poured to the other imperialist countries like Britain, the Spain, the

Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium.

Czech Blackface

The Czech Republic is among the countries with almost nonexistent colonial past because it “ . . . had little or no maritime colonial tradition, and few connections to a colonial praxis that could impinge on society through commercial interests, settler links and imperial propaganda (MacMaster 73). Without being tainted by the colonial

40 discourse most of the anti-black stereotypes came directly from America through travelogues and other literary works.

The creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 had a huge impact on the popular culture and paved the way for the American influence. (Švéda 10) This enabled for many of the American ideologies, ideas, and notions to dissolve into the Czech popular culture. Many travelogues by the Czech authors brought reports about life in America and with these reports the American stereotypes about blacks came along. These works were written during the era of segregation when slavery was already abolished. Even though the Czech authors stood in opposition to slavery and segregation they were influenced by the anti-black stereotypes. (Švéda 74)

Newly emerging Czech travelogues are oftentimes putting the virtue of eagerness to work that white Americans possess into a parallel with the laziness of

African Americans. Authors that write under the influence of these anti-black stereotypes are for example Gustam Habrman or Jiří Gluth. (34) Portrayals of African

Americans in works of these Czech authors bear a strong resemblance to the Coon caricature – Guth even discusses the question of wealthy blacks that he himself finds amusing (Švéda 76). This shows that even the influence of Zip Coon caricature can be found in their works.

Apart from the laziness, the other frequent negative stereotype in Czech literature is the lustfulness. For example, František Novodvorský writes about their numerous negative personality traits like lechery, dirtiness, laziness, stupidity, and arrogance (Švéda 75). Even though blacks are sometimes portrayed as hardworking and loyal they also have a dark side to them – sometimes they go on a rampage and rape white women (Švéda 76). In the novel Otroci v Texasu written in 1882 by Matěj Karas the originally submissive blacks turn into bestial savages and rebel against their master

41 – burning his farm to the ground (Švéda 107). It is interesting how the lustfulness of

African Americans and unexpected eruptions of bestiality characterize the Brute caricature but also coincide with the submissive nature of the Sambo stereotype.

The loyalty of blacks is a popular theme in the fiction from the middle of the nineteenth century from the Czech Republic. They are oftentimes willing to sacrifice their own lives for their white masters. In the short story Osada u Červené Řeky (1865) written by Gustav Hermann they are even unwilling to abandon their master despite being freed from his employment (Švéda 106). In another short story by František

Herites Bratři Hartisovi (1913) Africans Americans are portrayed in an inferior manner in stories like this – they are compliant and crawling and kneeling before their masters sometimes even cheering in an animal-like fashion (Švéda 106) In the novel Zmařený

Oběd (1918) from Zdeněk M. Kuděj there is a black character Jack. He is messy, childish, and naive – later on under the influence of the white Europeans he becomes more civilized (Švéda 128). These images of a happy, docile, and simple minded slave who needs to be supervised by whites also falls into the characteristics of the Sambo caricature. Marie Majerová in her series of works Divoký Západ describes African

Americans as having a coal-black skin, big white bulging eyes, and a huge red lips

(Švéda 223). It seems that even the description of physiology is comparable to the minstrel imagery.

The legacy of Minstrelsy can be even found in the Czech cinematography. Aery good example is the movie Mazaný Filip from 2003 where the main protagonist meets a desk clerk in a typical Minstrel make-up – peculiarly he greets him in a broken Czech which further deepens the allusion to the Minstrel shows. However even older example of a blackface can be found the music video for the song Beat me, daddy by Ondřej

Havelka. In 2013 blackface also appeared on television in 2013 during the show Tvoje

42 tvář má známy hlas (You Face Sounds Familiar) where participants sing while impersonating famous singers. In a blackface make-up appeared an actor Petr Rychlý who imitated Louis Armstrong, an actress Hana Holišová as Beyoncé, and Anna Fialová impersonated Bruno Mars (Biriczová). Even though these instance of blackface are not directly related to the Minstrel shows they indicate that this practice is still very much alive. One of the most recent examples of how these stereotypes are still preset occurred in 2016 the students of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno organized a themed ball From Ray Charles to Kanye West. Advertisement for this event included fried chicken a watermelon – stereotype connected with the American stereotypes of African Americans. The ball was attended by people in black make-up and wooly wigs (Image 16) and the King and Queen of the ball were replaced by “the biggest pimp and top hoe” (Beaton). This is a classic portrayal of supposed promiscuity of blacks that was perpetuated by blaxploitation movies.

On these examples from literature, movies, and cultural events it seems that some of the American caricatures are still bubbling underneath the surface of the Czech and by extension the European popular culture and sometimes they emerge during occasions like these.

43 Conclusion

The relationship between blackface of the Minstrel shows and blackface in

Europe is a complicated one. Some stereotypes like Savage, Jezebel and were originally created during the age of economic exploitation of the African continent. These were transferred to America where they manifested through the Minstrel Shows, books like

Uncle Tom´s Cabin and films like Birth of a Nation. This constant flow makes it hard to identify which stereotypes and caricatures were transported back to Europe from

America. However, there can be definitely identified certain features that were brought back to Europe.

In England, these stereotypes understandingly crystallized very clearly which is understandable because it shared the Minstrel shows with America. However, the influence of the Minstrelsy can be also seen in case of various European traditions.

Black Pete, Darkie Day, Three Wise men, and Carnivals – all these carry traces of the

American blackface imagery. Even though the anti-black stereotypes that are connected to the American past appear throughout Europe it is apparent that they had the biggest impact on the countries that were involved in the colonial praxis as can be seen by comparison of these countries with the Czech Republic.

The Savage and Jezebel caricatures that are connected with eroticization of

African Americans are the most widespread stereotypes which is understandable as they were born in the Europe. However the others can be also located within the European culture. Childlike Sambo is present in the figure of Black Pete, Lazy Coon in the inhabitants of Congo in Tintin in the Congo, Pickaninny in the Little Pink and Brokiga, and Brute in Otroci v Texasu. Probably the biggest influence the Minstrelsy had on the depictions of African Americans. Thick red lips and wooly hair can be seen almost

44 everywhere even today – in the commercials, comics and on the heads of blackface practitioners.

45 Images

Image 1 – Jim Crow

Image 2 – Minstrels

Image 3 - Pickaninny

46

Image 4 – Tobacco commercial

Image 5 – Uncle Tom at Home

47

Image 6 – Little Black Sambo

Image 7 – Golliwog

Image 8 – The Sarroti-Mohr

48

Image 9 – Pickaninny 2

Image 10 – Tintin in the Congo

Image 11 - Becherovka

49

Image 12 – Asterix and Obelix

Image 13 – Black Pete

Image 14 - Balthazar

50

Image 15 – Jungle Fever

Image 16 – JAMU ball

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58 Summary

Tato bakalářská práce analyzuje dopad amerických Minstrelů na Evropskou kulturu. Obecně se zaobírá stereotypy a procesem stereotypizace. Zaměřuje se na to, jak byli afroameričani zobrazováni napříč americkou historií v období Minstrelů a popisuje archetypální parodické charaktery, které ztvárňováním Afroameričanů vznikly. Tyto způsoby znázorňováni jsou pak porovnány s evropskou literaturou popisující afroameričany a s tradicemi zahrnujícími blackface – barvení obličeje na černo při snaze napodobit Afroameričany. Analýzou různých příkladů výskytu blackface a stereotypních zobrazování afroameričanů v evropském kontextu a bakalářská práce poukazuje na to, jakým způsobem Minstrelové ovlivni vyobrazení černochů v rámci

Evropy a to jak v zemích, které se podílely na kolonializmu, tak v rámci České republiky.

59 Resumé

This Bachelor Diploma Thesis analyses the impact of American Minstrelsy on the European culture. It describes the theoretical background behind stereptypes and the motivations behind their creation. It focuses on how African Americans were depicted throughout the American history and then it compares this American imagery with

European literature and traditions that include either depictions of blacks or the practice blackface that includes performers painting their faces black in order to simulate the black skin color. By analyzing various examples of blackface and stereotypical portrayal of blacks in the European context the thesis explores the degree to which extent Minstrels influenced how African Americans are depicted within European imagery. This includes countries that participated in colonialist era but also the Czech

Republic.

60