Blackface

The role of the Moor was not played by a black, but rather by white actor Richard Burbage. He wore blackface make-up as there was no chance of using a black man as the lead actor. In addition, there were no professional actors of color in Elizabethan England. It took over two centuries from 1604 for Othello to be played by a black. It was African American…

We asked 13 voices in fashion, including stylists, designers, performers, and academics, to share their opinions on fashion’s appropriation of urban street style. What’s at stake when Miley kicks it in Jordans? When James Franco wears rows that riff on RiFF RAFF? When Brooke Candy is photographed by Terry Richardson with a gold tooth? When Hood By Air becomes a Style.com darling? Or when Rick Owens hires an American step team to model his Paris défilé? Should anybody be allowed to wear anything…

In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison addresses the recurring themes and faults of racial portrayal in American literature. A substantial amount of this analysis has to do with the concept of the racial imaginary and racial canon. Using specific examples from ‘classic’ American authors, the author breaks apart the underpinnings of allegories around race. Morrison asserts that a contributing part of racism is poor portrayals of people of color in literature. This literary criticism crafts complex…

It all started in 1619, when the first shipment of African slaves arrived in Jamestown, fated to work on tobacco plantations for the rest of their lives. This practice of forced labor continued in America through the 1700s, and so African-American slave-owning became a foundation for the new nation’s economy, especially in the southern states, where slaves were a crucial part of the plantation system. In the north, however, a growing abolitionist movement drove the discussion about slavery…

Dear White People: Lionel’s Identity Leah N. Stone Southeastern Louisiana University Dear White People: Lionel’s Identity In Dear White People, the racial controversy of a prestige Ivy League college, Winchester University, was highlighted. Samantha White has a radio show called “Dear White People” sparks conflict within the university because she discusses the existence of racism and microaggression. The university is clearly divided because there is housing specifically for the Black…

and they exist everywhere today. “They have played a significant role in shaping attitudes towards African American men in American history and in the present (Green, 1999).” “They created the idea that they are racially and socially inferior (Blackface).” Furthermore, they promoted inequality and violence towards them. Overall, they are the reason African American men were discriminated in the past and they are the reason they are discriminated today. Negative stereotypes of African American…

Harvey Cox’s work The Market as G-d is an analysis of “The Market” and religion—exploring their shared natures and functions as forces within the lived human experience. Cox (in all but name) dissects the structure of a neoliberal economy to discover that the notion of “Free Market” moves and speaks much like that of religion. As Cox explores the relationship between “The Market” and religion within the paradigm of neoliberalism, one witnesses how a neoliberal economy elevates and enthrones the…

The era of hostile racial prejudice, the periods of slavery and racial segregation is an era that has extensively found itself in reluctant conversations across cultures, the effects continuing to radiate from the 19th century, the epicentre of racism. An uncomfortable truth to confront, race as a socio-political concept is a topic we refuse to divulge in or if done so, is a conversation peppered with scientific evidence that is nothing but discriminatory. Significant public figures have…

Civil rights leaders try to bring change to society through different platforms and actions. For example, Rosa Parks inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 by refusing to sit in the “colour” section; Martin Luther King Jr. led several movements that advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience; and Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover, used his popular artistic platform to criticize the challenges African Americans are facing today in the United States. These…

In a country that promotes the mantra, “United we Stand”, it is actually quite easy to feel like an outsider. It seems as though WASPS control our world and all those who don’t fall into that category lack the means to change politics, society, or the economy. Throughout America’s history African Americans, Ethnics, Poor people, gay people, and women have struggled as outsiders. On the other hand, these groups have been able to gather themselves and assert their own self-image in culture as well…