How to Apply Blackface

Denison's make-up guide (1926) was a catalogue of the various products sold by Denison, but it also offered detailed instructions on how to use their products. Below is their guide for "blacking up" using their Superfine Minstrel Black make-up paint. There were similar how-to's for other ethnic types such as the 'Ghetto Jew,' the Japanese, Irishman, Chinaman, etc. See more images from the catalogue at UVA's online exhibit, Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture.

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Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 09, 2013
Category: Clowns | Costumes and Masks | Racism | 1920s

Comments

A whole different era and one really can't apply today's mores.
See Al Jolson in black face here!

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/09/13 at 10:06 AM

Anyhow... can you imagine the number of pages that would be required today for both health and cultural warnings???

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/09/13 at 10:07 AM

Blackface makeup and Ebony, Jr. Is there a theme for the day? Do I get a prize?

Talk about a double standard - Michael Jackson did whiteface for years and no one complained.

Posted by KDP on 01/09/13 at 11:02 AM

This is as obsolete as the instruction manual for a slide rule!

Posted by tadchem on 01/09/13 at 01:26 PM

Don't laugh. We went to the moon on slide rules. I still have mine and the instruction manual. It will come in handy when the power fails.

Posted by KDP on 01/09/13 at 04:30 PM

When that happens, KDP, I plan on having one of the pendents!

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/10/13 at 12:26 AM

Never before has the warning "Hey kids, don't try this at home!" been more apt.

And it's not like blackface didn't piss people off in 1926, either---several of the Harlem Renaissance writers touched on it in their work.

Posted by JMS on 01/10/13 at 02:23 AM

Nothing like a little cultural history to make everyone uncomfortable. Remembering the past is the key to not repeating it, burying it and denying it is no good. In a hundred years white folks best hope no one is in repeating the past, as they (we) will be the minority.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 01/10/13 at 09:16 AM

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