Putting on Massa: Cooning, Minstrels, and Performance.

LET’S TALK ABOUT MINSTRELSY AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY!

*waits for 50 people to suck their teeth and log off*

AIGHT, NOW THE REST OF YOU!

I write, I read other people’s writing, I write about other people’s writing. I lead a boring life that I love. And this month, I had the displeasure of reading a colleague’s script for a web series/music video/aesthetic Instagram mini drama, that included a comic relief character that would by definition look like Kodak Black, speak like JJ Evans, and be a mumble rapper. So a minstrel. I told this (black) screenwriter that he created a modern day minstrel for his piece and he handed me this hot, steaming pile of garbage:

Black people can’t be minstrels. Only white people in blackface can be minstrels. Black people can’t be racist towards themselves.

Well….

Let’s start with minstrels. Most of us are familiar with the images of minstrels- usually white performers in the 19th & 20th century, who performed in blackface (cork makeup or black greasepaint that darkened the complexion, enormous painted-on eyes and lips, woolly wigs to resemble naps, watermelon and chicken and gaudy clothing as props). Northern white men had pioneered minstrelsy – as they observed blacks moving up from the South. Often in the light to comically portray black folks in the most racist ways imaginable. Minstrelsy is noted as the first purely American theater-form. These performances were popular for portraying black folks as illiterate, lazy, buffoonish, stupid, and mischievous as they sang vulgar songs (for the day), reminisced about slavery and the South or even pre-slavery days in Africa, and just enjoyed on-stage hataclaps and hijinks. Often, stories like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and white comedian variety shows were performed in blackface as actual black people couldn’t get on stage until the 20th century.

Imagine being a black person in 1870 (*shudder*), paying your good 25 cents to sit in the balcony (also known as the “peanut gallery”), and watch a white man in black makeup and a wig perform as you.

Often, white performers in blackface did not perform well-known black jokes. Black audiences weren’t the focus. For the white audiences, the joke was a “black” man on stage, confused by civil society, trying to put one off on white folks by being stupid, lazy, and savage. Well known black humor wasn’t introduced for black audiences until black people became minstrels … we will get to that.

Minstrels were so popular, that they often traveled with large circuses, including the early stages of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. White folks defended blackface as “a mask and a character” – and claimed that the black makeup and exaggerated features made emotions easy to see from the back row. White performers would take off the makeup and dissolve into society without being recognized. Much like how the KKK take off their hoods and go back into society…

Whole minstrels shows like Uncle Tom’s Cabin were performed to raise awareness to end slavery. Escaped slaves were encouraged to “perform” their daring escapes – and if they didn’t, white performers slapped on blackface and did it. After slavery, black people were a staple of vaudeville shows and music. Black people were depicted as sweet, lazy, funny, and excited to perform as real black folk were murdered, discriminated against, and displaced by the thousands.

As we know it now, the practice makes it highly disrespectful for white folks to perform or pose in blackface – for the images of minstrelsy still paint how society sees black folks today. However let me clarify four misunderstood things about minstrelsy.

Lots of modern comedy came from minstrelsy.
- Most of those neck-rolling, tongue popping caricatures of black women were established here. Folk songs, catch phrases, and physical comedy were established in minstrel shows. Also,many of the other sub-stereotypes we see for black folk which bring me to …
There were different kinds of minstrels.
- Like there are different flavors of comedy and black folk – there are different flavors of racism.
- There was the Dandy Zip Coon, the “Mammy”/ slave mother / “Aunt Chloe/Jemima”, Uncle Tom, the angry slave/Nat Turner/ Sapphire , the slave Jezabel, Buck (the white woman obsessed lover), and etc.
Black people went to and often enjoyed minstrel shows.
- But not all. Frederick Douglass described white minstrel performers as “…the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens.” So, I guess he didn’t like it much. However, minstrel performers were popular amongst black folks.
Sometimes, Black people were minstrels.
- HOLD UP. HOLD THE PHONE. STOP THE HATACLAPS! HOW CAN A BLACK PERSON DO BLACKFACE? Lower your voice. Let’s talk about it.

Black people were minstrels. Yes, black performers would add even darker complexion makeup (or in some cases, slightly lightened their skin), go on stage and perform for white audiences and other black folks as comedic versions of well… black folk.

One of the most well known black performing teams of the 20th century – Bert Williams and George Walker – were black men were renowned for their comedic genius, even though they faced discrimination. White performers flat out refused to be on the same playbill as them. However, they went on to perform as one of the first black vaudeville troupes, even performing at Buckingham Palace, citing themselves as “Two REAL Coons”. Walker didn’t use blackface, partially due to his already dark skin and to the fact he didn’t like it. Williams however, corked his face black for his performances.

Black people – some of the first black performers to become STARS – were minstrels. Does that make minstrelsy okay for the black community? I mean, it’s that okay as we are laughing at ourselves? And aren’t we reclaiming the racism of minstrelsy back from its racist roots? Aren’t we liberating ourselves from taking it out of the white performers control? I mean, what other choices did a black performer at that time have – wasn’t minstrelsy the only way a black performer could be on stage? And what does this have to do with mumble rap?

You can feel whatever way you want about it. In fact, it’s a complicated issue. Yes, many black people in the early 20th century could only get on stage by cooning. This opened doors for black actors of all kinds. And yes, it’s a way of reclaiming minstrelsy and racial performance back from white hands and into our own. But for me, does that make black people in blackface performing as exaggerated stereotypes for white folks okay?

WELL WHY? WHAT’S WRONG WITH BLACK PEOPLE USING THE STEREOTYPES ABOUT THEM TO BECOME STARS AND OPEN DOORS FOR OTHERS?

Lower your voice. Let me tell you about Stepin Fetchit. Now for those in the congregation who don’t know Brother Fetchit directly – you probably know his name is an insult akin to Uncle Tom. However, hold on to his tale as you think about why black minstrelsy may be damaging to black performers. Born as Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry performed as Stepin Fetchit in the early 1920s as one of the most beloved comedians as his time. Stepin Fetchit was a dumb-witted, coon trickster- uncharacteristic of the intelligent, clever, and hard-working man Lincoln Perry was. He would fade into obscurity after failing multiple times to negotiate an equal billing rate as his white co-stars.

He was the first African American actor to become a millionaire – and it was highly publicized and envied that Perry was so rich he had lavish parties, custom thousand dollar suits, six houses stocked with Chinese servants, and 12 luxury cars. By 1947, he was bankrupt. He was denounced by the black community for public drunken brawls and a penchant for underage girls. He was lambasted heavily for his characterization of black stereotypes and received a tongue lashing from Bill Cosby, but still holds a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored by the NAACP to have opened the door for black actors. He died in 1985.

I still argue that this kind of black minstrelsy is liberating because performers, who would usually have no notable roles can become stars through this performance. They are simply giving the audience (white folk) what they want. But to what cost of their soul? Fetchit/Perry sued Cosby for defamation and defended his character, but in gaps of his performances seemed almost reluctant about and tired of the character. He was a title-runner but never got the same pay and billing as his white counterparts. He was a Negro on and off stage. You can perform as the lazy, stupid, bumbling negro – but how does that affect you when you are actually a negro and what you performed is the same thing that’s used to oppress and even kill you? How could we imagine how the black performer who played the white-women obsessed Buck thought about his performance after hearing about the death of Emmett Till?

For a modern example – Dave Chappelle, legendary comedian of Chappelle’s Show and my pretend uncle, told Time Magazine in 2005 how he felt about the experience of black minstrelsy (sorta). After performing the “Racial Pixie” sketches – namely in which Chappelle would appear as a minstrel-like caricature to the audience, Chappelle started to have second thoughts about his content. Quoted from Time Magazine:

“He was taping a sketch about magic pixies that embody stereotypes about the races. The black pixie–played by Chappelle–wears blackface and tries to convince blacks to act in stereotypical ways. Chappelle thought the sketch was funny, the kind of thing his friends would laugh at. But at the taping, one spectator, a white man, laughed particularly loud and long. His laughter struck Chappelle as wrong, and he wondered if the new season of his show had gone from sending up stereotypes to merely reinforcing them. “When he laughed, it made me uncomfortable,” says Chappelle. “As a matter of fact, that was the last thing I shot before I told myself I gotta take f****** time out after this. Because my head almost exploded.”

Chappelle’s Show ended a year later so he can take a mental break and realign himself. Let me leave ya’ll with this – sometimes cooning, “putting on massa”, and playing (or writing) these roles may seem clever, or that we rise above the outdated stereotype, but are we paying attention to our audience?

We need to acknowledge this history, understand it, and not look back. We need to develop roles and paths in entertainment that will never glorify this past again. Because when we coon or make others coon, our audience isn’t laughing because it’s a joke or character. Our audience is laughing because, for them, it’s true.

– Leah [ˈliə ]

Leah is the Editor-in-Chief of Iambic. She is writer, visual artist, and word nerd. She enjoys coffee, animals, solitude, being right, and her West Indian heritage.

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