The discussion of performance of any kind by Black people in Canada or North America requires an acknowledgement of how Black people were represented and written about by the dominant white culture.
Representation
The negative representation of people of the African Diaspora has been, and continues to be, a key tool of oppression. Blackface minstrel performance evolved in the mid-nineteenth century and was a highly structured performance model that had the mockery of Black people at its core. It was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the late-nineteenth century and persisted as acceptable through much of the twentieth century. It continues in various ways today. A key aspect of minstrel performance was the use of unnaturally black make-up to darken the skin. Additional details to exaggerate eyes, nose and lips aimed to debase and humiliate Black people. Costuming catalogues had minstrel sections for attire, make-up and other props to enhance the characters that made up the minstrel show — the Mammy, Pickaninny, Creole, High Brown, Topsy, End Man, Fright Wig, Uncle Tom and Parson Blackface. Minstrel shows were not only performed on professional stages but were an active part of legion halls, community theatre and other amateur performance environments.
The practice of blackface was not only used in minstrel performance, it was also ingrained in classical western dance and theatre in place of casting Black and other people of colour. The use of make-up to portray nonwhite populations was so common as the accepted norm that text books on stage make-up described in detail how to attain the “proper” skin shades to represent various ethnic backgrounds. Here too, direction was provided to achieve the “correct” face, eye, cheekbone and mouth shape. This practice actively supported the exclusion of Black performers from amateur and professional stages, perpetuated the assumption that Black performers were not as skilled as white performers, and failed to challenge the systemic racism in which the practice was rooted. As can be noted in early twentieth-century cinema, Black people also participated in blackface — a practice that was divisive among Black cultural critics. This history demonstrates the complexity of representations of Blackness in the twentieth century.
Media Reception
Critical reception of Black performance by the media often only worked to reinforce the attitudes that informed minstrel mockery and the exclusion of Black performers from playing dignified and serious roles in the majority of professional productions. Media coverage of both Canadian and visiting artists frequently referred to dances as primitive and as coming from the “Dark Continent.” Even those reviews that were positive referred to Black artists and performers through language that exoticized, sexualized and infantilized them.