An exploration and celebration of a controversial tradition that; contrary to popular opinion; is alive and active after more than 150 years.Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen investigate the complex history of black minstrelsy; adopted in the mid-nineteenth century by African American performers who played the grinning blackface fool to entertain black and white audiences. We now consider minstrelsy an embarrassing relic; but once blacks and whites alike saw it as a black art formmdash;and embraced it as such. And; as the authors reveal; black minstrelsy remains deeply relevant to popular black entertainment; particularly in the work of contemporary artists like Dave Chappelle; Flavor Flav; Spike Lee; and Lil Wayne. Darkest America explores the origins; heyday; and present-day manifestations of this tradition; exploding the myth that it was a form of entertainment that whites foisted on blacks; and shining a sure-to-be controversial light on how these incendiary performances can be not only demeaning but also; paradoxically; liberating.
#3523553 in eBooks 2013-07-03 2013-07-03File Name: B007H9GXZS
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