Center for American Music
106A Stephen Foster Memorial
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412-624-4100
Email: kmill@pitt.edu
by appointment only
Blackface minstrelsy, also called blackface, is an indigenous American theatrical form that constituted a subgenre of the minstrel show. Intended as comic entertainment. Blackface minstrelsy was performed by a group of white minstrels (traveling musicians) with black-painted faces, whose material caricatured the singing and dancing of slaves. The form reached the pinnacle of its popularity between 1850 and 1870, when it enjoyed sizeable audiences in both the United States and Britain. Although blackface minstrelsy gradually disappeared from the professional theatres and became purely a vehicle for amateurs, its influence endured in later entertainment genres and media, including vaudeville theatre, radio and television programs, and the world-music and motion-picture industries of the 20th and 21st centuries.
"Blacking up" was the term used to describe putting on blackface makeup.
Blackface minstrel makeup was made out of a cork burned in oil, also known as burnt cork.
Fictitiously exaggerated lips were typically outlined in white or pink makeup, while eye were outlined in white.
Once the blackface makeup was applied, actors would put on costumes to create caricatures. To the present day these caricatures have pervaded American culture as African American stereotypes. Some of the most widely recognized blackface characters include Mammy, Uncle Tom, Jim Crow, and the picaninny.
Although numerous blackface caricatures were created for the minstrel stage, the most widely recognized blackface costume utilized an ill-fitted tuxedo with pinstriped pants, an oversized bow-tie, and a wooly wig.
