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Unmasking Jim Crow: Blackface Minstrelsy in American Popular Culture

Event Details

Unmasking Jim Crow: Blackface Minstrelsy in American Popular Culture

Time: January 26, 2015 at 4:30pm to May 8, 2015 at 7pm
Location: Loeb Music Library, Music Building
Street: North Yard, Harvard University
City/Town: Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Website or Map: http://music.fas.harvard.edu/…
Phone: 617-495-2794
Event Type: symposium/exhibition
Organized By: Students from the seminar “Blackface Minstrelsy in 19th Century America,” taught by Oja and Parler during the fall semester
Latest Activity: Jan 29, 2015

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Event Description

The Harvard Music Department announces a new library exhibit, Unmasking Jim Crow: Blackface Minstrelsy in American Popular Culture, examining the painful racist history and complex legacy of blackface performance in American culture. The exhibit will be on display January 26 through May 8, 2015 on the second floor of the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library. Included in the exhibit are images, sheet music, songsters, and other minstrel show artifacts from the Harvard Theater Collection, which houses one of the most important collections of 19th century minstrelsy materials in the world.

An opening symposium will launch the exhibit on January 26, 2015 at 4:30 PM in the Spalding Room of the Music Library. Carol J. Oja, William Powell Mason Professor of Music and Samuel Parler, Ph.D. Candidate in Music, will offer introductory remarks, followed by a keynote address from Louis Chude-Sokei, Associate Professor of English at the University of Washington and author of The Last “Darky”: Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora (Duke University Press, 2006).  The symposium will conclude with a performance by Rhiannon Giddens, banjoist and singer of the Grammy Award-winning folk trio The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Both the symposium and exhibit are free and open to the public.

The exhibit is curated by students from the seminar “Blackface Minstrelsy in 19th Century America,” taught by Oja and Parler during the fall semester. The artifacts of 19th-century minstrelsy include materials with toxic racial images and powerful, culturally ingrained musical texts. The historical impact of both the images and the music has been huge, and the goal of this project has been to engage students in a conversation about this important aspect of American racial history. The materials displayed document minstrelsy’s wide geographic and chronological span. Topics include the careers of composer-performers Thomas Dartmouth Rice (of European-American heritage) and James Bland (of African-American heritage); minstrel performance in America’s western frontier; black perspectives on blackface; and minstrelsy’s legacy in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The exhibit is supported by grants from the Elson Family Arts Initiative Fund and the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities.

Comment Wall

Comment by Christopher Stetson on January 26, 2015 at 1:36pm

Oh, man, me too.  I'm still sick though, and you wouldn't want it.

Comment by James Hartel on January 26, 2015 at 2:29pm

Afraid the weather in Boston scared me away. I'm sure about getting there but don't know if I'll get back home again. Roberta has asked if there will be any documentation/recording of the symposium. I was going to try but... Best wishes Rhiannon. I'm sure you'll knock 'em out.

Comment by Tim Twiss on January 26, 2015 at 2:37pm

Hey, you East Coast folks are having all the fun. It's hard to make more than one trip a year from the dairy heartland. Anyway, see you all in June. Wish I could make the May event, but too close.

Comment by Christopher Stetson on January 26, 2015 at 7:58pm

As the years go by, I see to only be able to make the 2-hour trip into the city once a year too!

Comment by Christopher Stetson on January 27, 2015 at 5:53pm

I'm hoping Paul and Rhiannon are warm and well-lit in snowy Boston.

Comment by Rhiannon Giddens on January 28, 2015 at 7:36am

it went very well but we missed y'all who couldn't make…although i do wonder what we would have done without the blizzard, as the room was absolutely packed!  wonderful keynote address by Louis Chude-Sokei, and the students work was great.  My nail broke the day before so i was less than happy with  my banjo playing, but everything went ok.

Comment by Paul Sedgwick on January 28, 2015 at 8:40am

Rhiannon killed it. Nervousness concerning banjoheads and broken nails aside, she is a charmer, a delight, and the classiest of class acts. She had us wrapped around her little finger. She was the finale to a really cool, nicely done event. As Rhiannon mentioned, the keynote address by Louis Chude-Sokei (The Last Darky: Bert Williams, Black-On-Black Minstrelsy and the African Diaspora) was mind-blowing! The students' remarks regarding their installments (they worked in teams on the various display cases) were also very thoughtful. The room was fairly small (a library room lined with books), and was packed. We were literally rubbing elbows (I DO mean literally) I was sitting next to Jim Bollman, who drove down the road from Lexington. There was sound equidment, including separarte mics for recording. Didn't notice if there was a video component set up. Maybe Rihainnon knows. Felt so fortunate to be there in that cozy little space with a blizzard approaching. What fun!

Comment by Tim Twiss on January 28, 2015 at 8:51am

Sounds you captured a great moment in there, and the participants were fortunate to have been there. Perhaps it is repeatable and worth doing again???

Comment by Paul Sedgwick on January 28, 2015 at 9:16am

The class is over, the students are done. The exhibit will be in place until May 4. If you like looking at rare minstrelsy documents, you should come. These items will disappear again into Harvard oblivion once the exhibit closes. Let me know if you come this (Boston) way, Tim! Or anybody!

Comment by Greg Adams on January 28, 2015 at 9:26am

Wish I could have been there! Glad it was such a great success!

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