Blackface Quotes

• A white face goes with a white mind. Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. Very seldom a white face will have a black mind.

  Nikki Giovanni

  White, Black, Mind

  1971 Conversation with James Baldwin, London, 4 Nov. Collected in A Dialogue (1973).

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• Speak out, educate, do not be intimidated by the apologists, and do not let extreme racism be mainstreamed. Hopefully there will come a time when we don't need to tell our kids that Halloween is no excuse for hate, and that blackface has no place in a civilized society.

  Christine Pelosi

  Leadership, Halloween, Hate

  "Halloween Is No Excuse for Hate: Blackface Has No Place" by Christine Pelosi, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 27, 2013.

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• I have a huge issue with blackface.

  Rachel Dolezal

  Issues, Huge

  "As Rachel Dolezal Breaks Silence, a Roundtable Discussion on Race, Appropriation and Identity". www.democracynow.org. June 17, 2015.

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• I thought Black Friday was when everyone puts on blackface and steals children from Wal-Mart.

  Stephen Colbert

  Friday, Children, Black

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• I think when black performers performed in blackface, they were kind of taking back slave songs, but it was still a little bit iffy because they were performing, a lot of times, for white audiences who found it hilarious.

  Cecile McLorin Salvant

  Song, Thinking, White

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I think it is very ironic that most people think that the banjo is a southern white instrument. It came from Africa and even for the first years that white people played banjo they would put on blackface.

  Bela Fleck

  Thinking, Years, White

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• [Zwarte Piet] is unfortunate, and just like the early American blackface films, if it offends a segment of the population, it shouldn't be shown again.

  Roger Ross Williams

  Population, Film, Unfortunate

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

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• Just reading that - just reading that a person can be black and still perform in blackface, making fun of black people for a living, and at the same time be a genius and be an incredible entertainer and at the same time be extremely conflicted and feel like - just feel terrible for doing that, essentially, which is what Bert Williams felt, from what I gather, from what I read - all of that just made - was so incredible to me.

  Cecile McLorin Salvant

  Fun, Reading, People

  "Jazz Singer Cécile McLorin Salvant Doesn't Want To Sound 'Clean And Pretty'". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. January 1, 2016.

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• Like, Australians definitely don't walk around dressed up in blackface going "Ha-ha."

  Chris Lilley

  Walks, Dressed Up

  "Chris Lilley on Angry Boys, the Blackface Taboo, and Laughing at His Own Jokes". Interview with Jean Bentley, www.vulture.com. December 28, 2011.

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• I was not interested in doing the plot of Oedipus in blackface. I did wonder, what would these people have been like if they hadn't been in that situation?... One could look at Oedipus, or at my character Augustus, as a cynical schemer who did everything because he was hungry for power. But that's just too easy. I'm more interested in how humans can embody conflicting goals and emotions.

  Rita Dove

  Character, Oedipus, People

  "The darker face of the earth". American Theatre, November 1, 1996.

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