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The Performance of Blackness at the Missouri History MuseumBy Emily Underwood, Director of Community Programs at the Missouri Historical Society For centuries performance has been a vehicle for playing out society’s fears, desires, motivations, and values. Through the stage—and later the screen—this collective processing of our own humanity has been presented with both thoughtful nuance and utter disregard. At its best, performance offers audiences the opportunity for self-reflection and deeper understanding. At its worst, it magnifies the ugliest parts of us, perpetuating stereotypes, reinforcing biases, and inspiring hateful divisiveness that endures long after the performance has ended. On Sunday, March 24, at 6:30pm, and on Tuesday, April 2, at 6:30pm, the Missouri Historical Society will host the two-part series From the Birth of Blackface to The Birth of a Nation: The Performance of Blackness, presented with the Ethics Project and Washington University School of Law. Although each component of the program can stand on its own, the two halves work in tandem to excavate the depth of blackface in American history and how it continues to pervade our consciousness—even long after it has fallen out of social acceptance. On March 24, Katrina Thompson Moore, Ph.D. and associate professor of history at Saint Louis University, will present The Birth of Blackface. She’ll trace the story of how stereotypes have been acted out through racist costuming and performance from the early stages of vaudeville theaters to the headlines about offensive Halloween costumes that pop up every year. A conversation between Moore and the Ethics Project’s founder and president Christi Griffin, J.D., will follow the presentation. They’ll dig deeper into the pervasive displays of negative racial stereotypes and engage the audience in a conversation about the visceral reactions to Virginia governor Ralph Northam’s use of blackface in a yearbook photo. It is no surprise that the tradition of caricaturing black people did not limit itself to live performance; it easily found its way into the burgeoning world of motion pictures as well. When D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation was released in 1915, it featured a number of performers in blackface, portraying black men as boorish and sexually aggressive threats to white communities. These portrayals—along with other minstrel show archetypes—presented dehumanized images of blackness and a distorted view of black culture that was more palatable and easily digested for white entertainment. During the April 2 program, Griffin and Washington University law professor Kimberly Norwood, J.D., will present a selection of illustrative clips from the three-hour film, then lead a panel discussion. Panelists will include historian and academic leader John Wright; Missouri NAACP president Nimrod Chapel Jr.; the Black Rep founder and producing director Ron Himes; and Kimberly Hicks Franks, J.D. The panelists will discuss the film and its context—as well as its lasting impact—and they’ll continue the conversation about the pervasiveness of blackface stereotypes in contemporary culture. Griffin founded the Ethics Project in 2007 with a mission to “improve the well-being of our youth and strengthen our community by addressing the impact of crime, incarceration, and injustice on children, families, and the community as a whole.” The Ethics Project provides a variety of resources to educate the public on the legal system, increase the ethics of those within that system, and address incarceration. Its platform includes the Mother 2 Mother program, which provides black mothers with the opportunity to bear witness to the experience of raising black sons. But what does this have to do with performance and blackface? “To the extent that racist perceptions and over-criminalization of black people impacts crime, injustice, and mass incarceration, these programs about the history of blackface and The Birth of a Nation are important vehicles for raising awareness and changing the conversation,” Griffin says. Shakia Gullette, manager of local history initiatives at the Missouri Historical Society, also stresses the connections between the historic use of blackface and current issues within the justice system. “Drawing that connecting line is a prime example of the ways in which popular culture permeates into other parts of our lives. These conversations are so important because it’s only with hindsight that we can understand the breadth of the effects they have on our community.” Join us at the Missouri History Museum on Sunday, March 24, and Tuesday, April 2, to be a part of the conversation. Both sessions are free and open to the public. ................
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