Black
Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture
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by John Strausbaugh, Foreword by Darius James
ISBN: 1585424986
Format: Hardcover, 224pp
Pub. Date: June 2006
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Reviewed by Paige Turner
Blackface and minstrelsy have always been equal opportunity employers and
offenders. Sammy Davis Jr. did the blackface thing along with Judy Garland, Bing
Crosby, and most famously, Al Jolson. The tradition is carried on today by
entertainers like Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and the entire Wayans family.
Author John Strausbaugh explores why this fascinating and repulsive phenomenon
continues to resonate in Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult &
Imitation in American Popular Culture. He states, "Blackface is still alive. Its
impact and derivations -- including Black performers in "whiteface" can be seen
all around us".
Black Like You provides a provocative history of entertainment, race relations,
and politics in the United States. It is almost breathtakingly good in its
spot-on analysis of American popular culture. Strasbaugh offers a palatable,
accessible treatment that encourages readers to explore this thorny topic from
the comfort of their living room chair. Despite Strausbaugh's highfalutin
vocabulary he is earnest, engaging and presents excellent examples to underscore
his points, weaving the threads of history, race, entertainment, politics, and
communications into a meaningful explanation of who Americans are as a people
and how we came to be.
The whole idea of blackface remains confusing, because the boundaries of
acceptable racial humor fluctuate hourly. Does blackface celebrate or mock
black Americans? Interestingly control of images of blackness has mostly been
in the hands of whites.
In the 1830s minstrelsy was a way of life akin to rock and roll for white
American youth, exhibiting their rowdiness and bawdiness in a liberating way
nothing else could. Minstrel shows bloomed like dandelions, recalling a falsely
idyllic image of Dixieland during a time when America was becoming increasingly
industrial and urban. Americans were also befuddled and wary of changes in
social order caused by newly freed slaves and new European immigrants.
Minstrelsy keeps resurfacing, resonating in TV shows like Martin, The Parkers,
Sanford and Son, Good Times, and Laugh In. In this new millennium remnants of
minstrelsy are seen in hip-hop videos. The latest variation -- whiteface
minstrelsy -- is a mainstay of performers like Eminem.
Black Like You delivers all the qualities that make for pleasurable, worthwhile
reading. The book's lack of an index is irksome, preventing readers from zoning
in on topics that pique their interest. Fortunately Strassbaugh's witty and
intelligent writing is worth the trip.
Race relations in America is a prickly-touchy subject, mostly handled gently or
evaded altogether, but it is indisputable that America and the world are
elevated by the cultural contributions of African Americans. Black Like You
reinforces that the lion's share of our joy stems from embracing the black part
of America's identity.
Related Links
Read Another Review of
Black Like You
on AALBC.com by Kam Williams
http://reviews.aalbc.com/black_like_you1.htm