# Poll: Have You Ever Worn Blackface? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 6, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079 "2019-02-06T19:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/1 "2019-02-06T19:34:13Z")
I just read this article: **Virginia’s attorney general admits wearing blackface in college** > **[Virginia's attorney general admits wearing blackface in college](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47148045)** > > Mark Herring's statement comes as the Virginia governor rejects calls to resign over a similar incident. Frankly this surprised me (both him and the Governor) as I have never worn blackface and never seen anyone around me wear it. So I decided to do a poll among Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/2 "2019-02-06T19:51:42Z")
Nope. I’ve done zombie makeup as well as sugar skull makeup. I’ve insulted christianity with my rendition of jesus and my perverted priest costumes. Never blackface though. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/3 "2019-02-06T20:08:54Z")
No, clown hobo makeup when I was about 12 for Halloween is the only time I remember doing something like that. It wasn’t black/brown. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/4 "2019-02-06T20:12:33Z")
No. I did wear blue face for Halloween when I was Ice King from Adventure Time. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/5 "2019-02-06T20:15:23Z")
I need a ‘sort of’ option. I colored my face black once, but it was more to make it invisible-ish inside a large hood (going for a sort of demon affect). So if there are pictures of me with the hood down, I might be in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/6 "2019-02-06T20:20:37Z")
I did silver face for a robot costume in the 3rd grade. But no, of course I’ve never done black face, nor has any self respecting person since the Civil Rights era. I live in West Virginia which is hardly considered a paragon of progressivism (Although race history here is complicated and doesn’t really fit the prevailing narratives, but I digress.) and I have never seen anyone ever wear blackface. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/7 "2019-02-06T20:27:58Z")
I’ve done all sorts of exotic monster makeups\*, but never Blackface. The only times I’ve used exclusively black makeup are the times I made myself up as a gorilla. And that was strictly an ape, with no social commentary. \*I was brung up on Dick Smith’s _Monster Makeup Handbook_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/8 "2019-02-06T20:34:54Z")
I think I may had my face colored red for some school play thing when I was about eight, but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/9 "2019-02-06T20:37:14Z")
I voted no but I must admit, 30+ years ago, if there was a costume that I felt “called for it”, I probably would have, with absolutely no thought about it being offensive. I’m thinking something like Dan Akroyd’s Rastafarian in _Trading Places._. I also don’t recall seeing anyone else do it, but again, it wouldn’t have stuck out enough at the time to me to remember it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/10 "2019-02-06T20:56:09Z")
I haven’t and I hated makeup when I used to participate in theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/11 "2019-02-06T20:56:24Z")
I wore whit_er_ face once when going as a vampire. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/12 "2019-02-06T21:00:09Z")
I dressed as The Joker as a kid once. I don’t remember much, but I remember despising the feeling of the makeup on my face. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/13 "2019-02-06T21:00:47Z")
I church, we had a clown ministry outreach program. I wasn’t very involved, but i went on an outing with them once. someone wanted to put a dab of black on their nose, as they were going for like a cat-clown or something, and they received quite the lecture on why there were no black face paints in the kit. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/14 "2019-02-06T21:05:15Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I church, we had a clown ministry outreach program. I wasn’t very involved, but i went on an outing with them once. > > someone wanted to put a dab of black on their nose, as they were going for like a cat-clown or something, and they received quite the lecture on why there were no black face paints in the kit. If you wear blacknose are you 5% racist? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/15 "2019-02-06T21:05:18Z")
No, but I did once wear what in hindsight was a very ill-conceived ghost costume, made from a white sheet. I’m just glad that I’m not running for office, and that no pictures of that costume have survived to the present day. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/16 "2019-02-06T21:09:57Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > If you wear blacknose are you 5% racist? 'bout 30ish years ago, so I don’t remember particulars, but, IIRC, it pretty much boiled down to not trusting kids to make the judgment as to how much black is too much. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/17 "2019-02-06T21:10:52Z")
I mentioned elsewhere, I used to use charcoal to make goth/punk designs on my face when I was a teenager, and I once, to my eternal cringing, covered my entire face in charcoal dust to play the Devil from a Hawthorne story (“The Black Man of the Woods”) for an English class assignment. I was a teenager, and utterly clueless that charcoal on face would have racist overtones, and if I ever invent a time machine, going back to slap 16-year-old-me silly would be a high priority. It’s a little shocking that no adult at the time thought to say, “DUDE! WASH YOUR FACE NOW!” It took my high school girlfriend to call me on my idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/18 "2019-02-06T21:12:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve done all sorts of exotic monster makeups\*, but never Blackface. The only times I’ve used exclusively black makeup are the times I made myself up as a gorilla. And that was strictly an ape, with no social commentary. > > \*I was brung up on Dick Smith’s _Monster Makeup Handbook_. Was that the one advertised in the back pages of _Famous Monsters of Filmland?_. Then I got brung up on it, too! Zombies were the easiest. Lots of clown white, plus black lips and circles under the eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/19 "2019-02-06T21:16:52Z")
I can say that I have never worn blackface. I cannot say for sure that I would have known better, had the idea ever arisen. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/20 "2019-02-06T21:17:08Z")
I never saw blackface in person in my entire life and had anyone asked me I would have said it went out with Al Jolson. Foolish me. I’m guessing it is a thriving institution in the still-wishing-they-were slave states though. My well-educated wealthy Virginia-born mother in law used to tell darkie jokes with absolutely no thought that they might be out of style. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079.md?page=2)