# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/81 "2019-02-10T21:12:50Z")
On-target _SNL_ skit from last night: [State Meeting - SNL - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpQVSVa2QI) ---
**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 10, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/82 "2019-02-10T21:23:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My god, the petulance of people upset about changing social norms. No, it is the _utter silliness_ of reversing the order of the two words and then asserting that it is an important and meaningful difference. ---
**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 10, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/83 "2019-02-10T21:42:33Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > No, it is the _utter silliness_ of reversing the order of the two words and then asserting that it is an important and meaningful difference. Social norms, idioms, and human language in general do not follow computer logic, and expecting them to do so is, what’s the phrase, “utter silliness.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/84 "2019-02-10T21:55:37Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > 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. You wouldn’t be in trouble about just a white sheet, but it AND a pointy white cone hat would make some problems for you. ---
**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 10, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/85 "2019-02-10T22:02:20Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Social norms, idioms, and human language in general do not follow computer logic, and expecting them to do so is, what’s the phrase, “utter silliness.” Maybe I’m being a fart of oldness and can no longer understand the kids of cool. ---
**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 10, 2019, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/86 "2019-02-10T22:06:05Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > You wouldn’t be in trouble about just a white sheet, but it AND a pointy white cone hat would make some problems for you. Also, [avoid waffle cones](https://gawker.com/5844177/ice-cream-cone-mascot-mistaken-for-a-kkk-member). ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/87 "2019-02-11T01:26:57Z")
Other than Mrs. Beaver in _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,_ Halloween and stage costumes were as Caucasian as I am, AFAIR. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/88 "2019-02-11T03:07:53Z")
My problem with the question is the change of definitions that we have had in the past two weeks. Putting makeup on your face to darken it to impersonate a black person as part of a costume is not “blackface.” Blackface has/had a specific definition. The guy on the right is dressed in blackface: [Blackface - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface#/media/File:Minstrel_PosterBillyVanWare_edit.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/89 "2019-02-11T03:42:06Z")
I voted yes. I once was Balthazar (the black wise man) ad my mom used burnt cork to darken my face. Ditto in first or second grade when dancing an afro-Peruvian dance. Not strictly blackface, maybe. Here in Peru, there are a number of places that have a traditional [“Danza de Negritos” (video)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-v9baM6OMk) in which dancers, of Andean descent, wear masks ad costumes representing black men. These dances come from colonial times, nobody considers them insulting or racist. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/90 "2019-02-11T12:36:24Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > On-target _SNL_ skit from last night: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpQVSVa2QI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpQVSVa2QI) I have had similar conversations in real life about blackface, white folks using the word nigger, why it’s wrong to consider all black folks to be criminals, etc. It was really fun when after Chris Rock did his nigger vs black people routine a number of my white friends felt it was important to let me know that they consider me to be a black person and not a nigger…then they proceeded to tell me what they thought of niggers. There was a lot of enlightenment to be had that day. I imagine women deal with similar issues with the #MeToo movement. As soon as you highlight the problem it feels like everyone goes to work trying to redefine the line between acceptable and unacceptable instead of taking a step back and asking “Am I part of the problem?” ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/91 "2019-02-11T12:50:35Z")
I once went to a costume party dressed as [someone who was born a poor black child](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079367/), but it it didn’t require darkening anything. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/92 "2019-02-11T12:54:39Z")
I remember a Halloween party at a local bar in Virginia in the late 80s ar which a guy I knew went in blackface with a big afro wig and spent the whole night talking in an exaggerated Amos and Andy voice. I remember thinking it was pretty fucked up, but other people thought it was hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/93 "2019-02-11T14:32:06Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > OH and in theatre in HS we DID have white people sometimes portray black roles, but no make-up was used. This I only saw done in Spoon River Anthology and in…Purlie Victorious I think. The school was half black and half white. Guess there just wern’t enough people to fill certain roles. I was a theatre major in college. A few years after I graduated, one of the plays on the roster was For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (When the Rainbow is Enuf). I don’t what they were thinking. My college theatre department was pretty much all white. I wasn’t a student at the time, so I wasn’t privy do the discussions and rumors around this decision, maybe they thought they were opening up some opportunities for African-American students. They may have engaged in some outreach to encourage them to audition. But if they did, it didn’t work. So they ended up performing this show with an all white cast. I believe they darkened the skin of the actresses and cornrowed their hair. I really don’t know what the fuck they were thinking. That work is more than a play with black actresses, it’s an exploration of African-American experience. It was a disturbing decision. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > As a 16-year-old camp counselor-in-training, I did wear reddish-brown body paint as sachem (weekly quasi-Native American ceremony/games). _Nunway!_. I answered “no” for this poll, but if someone thinks that counts, I respect that opinion. Oh , the red-brown body paint. When I was in college most of us theatre students got jobs at one of the historical outdoor dramas performed throughout the South. Most of those plays had a plot line featuring European settlers and Indians. The actors portraying the Indians were required to wear a red-brown body makeup called, IIRC, Texas dirt. This caused a lot of backstage drama because 1. Everyone hated to wear it. 2. Although the actors were all Caucasian, some of them had a darker natural skin tone than others, especially once the summer suntans appeared. So some actors felt strongly that they didn’t need to wear the body make-up. Other actors felt strongly that if they had to wear it, everyone had to wear it. Conflicts ensued. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/94 "2019-02-11T19:14:40Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Yes, it is offensive precisely because you feel the need to black up in order for it to be a Hendrix costume, but wouldn’t white up if you were dressing as a white guitarist. So provided I whiten up to become Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust I’m golden to darken up to cosplay Hendrix. 😉 As to OP, no never blackface… covered in mud once for a performance of an excerpt of Monty Python’s Holy Grail. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/95 "2019-02-11T19:24:13Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > On-target _SNL_ skit from last night: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpQVSVa2QI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpQVSVa2QI) What if I printed up a picture of Tina Turner for a play and wore that with fishnet and a sequin dress and sang “private dancer”? ok…what if people thought it was funny? I may need to change my poll answer. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/96 "2019-02-18T20:38:32Z")
There’s a CNN poll showing a third of people think blackface is okay if it’s a Halloween costume. That seems to be the sole exception. Can’t find the link to it now, but it was a week or two ago. EDIT: [Found it](https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/blackface-pew-poll/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079/97 "2019-02-19T02:44:57Z")
For Halloween in grade school one year, I was a hobo. My blackened face was just to appear dirty from traveling with the trains. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-have-you-ever-worn-blackface/829079.md?page=4)