No.
I went as Randy Moss for Halloween one year, but I didn’t paint my face…because that would be really ignorant and stupid.
Something tangentially similar happened when I was in first or second grade (so around 1980.) The klan was supposed to be protesting something or the other in Greenville, SC where they were going to burn a large wooden cross and it was highly publicized in advance–people from all around went to watch it from their cars (as a spectator event, not necessarily to support them–there were fewer entertainment options in 1980.) My mother and grandmother (with me brought along) were among the people who went to watch, and my mother took photos with her instant camera. Afterwards, I took the photos to school for show and tell. Not knowing anything about what the event was about, just lots of people gathered to watch some guys in costume have a big fire. I remember seeing two or three teachers gathered at the front of the classroom looking at the photos and having a lively conversation about them. I didn’t get to present my show and tell…
The very same. Still have my copy. It’s been reprinted in recent years. I did a lot of the makeups out of that book before branching out on my own.
When I was a kid in the 1960s the local 5 & 10 (really!) would put out a rack of “makeup” kits that included one shallow pan of one color greasepaint and two sticks of other colors. They had Clown Makeup and other such, but mixed in among them was Minstrel Makeup. a clear case of Blackface, even if we kids didn’t understand it or why. (I never saw an actual “minstrel” show in my life, although I saw them on TV shows like all in the Family)
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiMgNyPh6jgAhUDVN8KHWxpAeYQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.cl%2Fpin%2F176766354103381518%2F&psig=AOvVaw2_BTKrIcqAcnxkcXwq_9Lc&ust=1549574895572811
I never bought the Minstrel makeup – it seemed too crude for someone working out of the Monster Makeup Handbook.
Here’s a picture of the kit. Now that I look at it, there’s a lot of non-PC makeup in there – Gypsy, Indian, Chinese, Minstrel. But there’s also Clown and Princess and Pirate.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1950s-halloween-store-display-case-408551947
I played Bailiff Black Cat in a Halloween school play in first grade. Were it not for the additional elements of whiskers and ears, the make-up would have been pure Al Jolson.
My parents used to tell stories of kids wearing blackface for Halloween. That would have been in the late thirties or the forties. If you didn’t have money for a fancier costume, you could find a cork, char it, then rub it on your face. At this late date I don’t remember whether either of them said they had done it themselves. But it was a thing.
Growing up the in the '60’s (NY area), dressing as a ‘hobo’ was still a standard option for Halloween, and could involve putting some dark stuff on your face, to simulate being dirty. The idea was not however that the ‘hobo’ was an African American, if anything the ‘white normative’ assumption was probably the opposite. 
I guess now dressing up as a ‘marginalized person’ might itself be considered offensive by some.
However if so that’s an evolution from 1960’s to now. The idea that black face was remotely acceptable even back then, in that area anyway, is completely ridiculous. In fairness some of the people who’ve offered defenses of various blackface incidents much later than that of ‘well lots of people did that back then’ might be talking about different places than the NY area. But still, it’s really not as if it’s a new thing for blackface to be highly sensitive.
I’ve never much cared for costumes, so my answer is a resounding no. Though I would have no more qualms painting my face black than I would painting it any other colour.
However, I’d love to know what the average citizen of the world thinks about the idea that “wearing blackface is offensive”.
In my opinion, it’s ludicrous. It seems to me that, like anything else, context is king. If you darken your face for the purpose of ridiculing people with darker skin, then you’re being offensive. But if you darken your face for another reason (e.g. you’re a fan of Marvin Gaye and want to dress as him for a costume party), it cannot reasonably be considered offensive. Perhaps this is a question for another thread.
Yes. I’m a left-handed guitar player, and one Halloween around 30 years ago, I went as Jimi Hendrix (who played left-handed), complete with Stratocaster, headband, tie-dyed shirt, fake mustache, and light brown makeup.
I’ve never worn blackface but being British I have watched the Black and White Minstrel show. That this was considered family entertainment for UK audiences from 1958 to 1978 is hard to comprehend these days. I never really liked it as far as I can remember but when there’s only two or three channels you end up watching what’s on - and for the first ten or so years what your parents want to watch 
No, just greenface.
No, but a friend once went as Bob Marley to a Halloween party about 10 years ago. No one thought anything about it.
It may not hold the same connotations in Canada.
Well, almost. In high school I played a Native American in a play, and had to wear slightly reddish makeup. Hardly blackface.
No. There was a hobo costume one Halloween as a kid that I’m thinking included some unevenly applied dirt.
In college, there was a Halloween where I think two people came in KKK type costumes. I remember one pretty clearly because of the plaid pillowcase hood. They/he put an effort, including the plaid hood, into being intentionally insulting to the KKK. I’m not sure that would come through in a picture, though. I’d assume any political aspirations I might have would be fucked if there was a picture of me next to them.
In the mid-70s, a close friend dressed for Halloween as a “southern Negro Bible salesman”. Friend was an artist, and the costume was definitely a work of art. If you’d passed him on the street, you wouldn’t have known he was not a black person. And the costume was very poignant. It made a statement, but definitely not a racist statement. Exactly the opposite.
Today the costume would no doubt be considered offensive, which is sad and stupid.
I’ve never done a costume that required makeup (well, this Halloween I did use a little touch of green for Rick Sanchez’s spot of drool."
I grew up in a very white school, but I never saw anyone wear it (we were in NY, though).
Almost, but no. It was 1983, and I was going to a Doctor Who Convention in Chicago at the Hyatt near O’Hare. I went in costume as a Movellan, androids that were at war with the Daleks in Revenge of the Daleks, a Fourth Doctor adventure. You may or may not remember that the Movellans wore form fitting bodysuits and wore white cornrows. They were played by mostly black actors.
So, I wore white leotards with a spandex onesie type body suit that I would wear to the gym. I also wore silver boots, and I sewed up a quilted kind of pullover shirt. My friend and fellow Whoite did all the braidwork cornrowing my hair.
I spray colored it bright silver. Damn, I looked fine.
Now, I had a liitle jar of what was then called Egyptian Earth.
It was a dark face foundation powder. I was going to use it to darken my face to look more Movellan, but the stuff was loose powder that got everywhere, and was a pain in the ass to deal with. I decided I looked just as good without it, and left it behind. So no, I’ve never worn blackface, or I guess it really would’ve been brownface.
Damn, I looked fine in that outfit. But it wasn’t the best costume I’ve ever worn.
That would’ve been the next Who Convention, when I went as Ohica of the Sisterhood of Karn. Maybe I’ll tell you about that one some other time.
I’m curious–do you believe that yer average black American, or yer average “southern Negro,” would have seen your (white?) friend dressing up as a black person for a Halloween costume and been like, “Ooh, nice anti-racist costume there”? Or do you think that it would’ve been considered offensive by a lot of black Americans back then?
Zombie a lot and I have gone on raids with the Delaware and Abanaki in full paint more than once. On me it comes out kinda bad – like a cross between Uncle Fester, Charlie Brown and Taras Bulba but my Native brothers much appreciated the effort I made.
Yes, if this memory is correct and it had nothing to do with any human.
It was a packaged costume when I was about 5-6.
I saw it packed away years later In my 20s and I’m still baffled what the hell it was supposed to be.
It was an inflatable hat that strapped on and the top was shaped like a round mylar balloon but sideways. It was made to look like a skull with a candle on top, I think it had arms reaching out the side of the skull down to your ears.
It came with a black spandex suit and black paint and pictured the kid on the front all blacked out.
No…but in the dorm i stayed in, girls would set-up by the elevators on the boys side and hold up score cards for boys walking by, and hoot and holler etc…and the boys would do the same thing by the girls elevators.
Not blackface but an activity that horrify certain people these days.