Blackface Minstrelsy and the Reception of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-320
Author(s):  
Julia J. Chybowski
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Black Swan ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Blackface Minstrelsy ◽  
And Gender

AbstractThis article explores blackface minstrelsy in the context of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield's singing career of the 1850s–1870s. Although Greenfield performed a version of African American musicality that was distinct from minstrel caricatures, minstrelsy nonetheless impacted her reception. The ubiquity of minstrel tropes greatly influenced audience perceptions of Greenfield's creative and powerful transgressions of expected race and gender roles, as well as the alignment of race with mid-nineteenth-century notions of social class. Minstrel caricatures and stereotypes appeared in both praise and ridicule of Greenfield's performances from her debut onward, and after successful US and transatlantic tours established her notoriety, minstrel companies actually began staging parody versions of Greenfield, using her sobriquet, “Black Swan.” These “Black Swan” acts are evidence that Greenfield's achievements were perceived as threats to established social hierarchies.

Recovering the Creole Synthesis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
The Body ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Blackface Minstrelsy ◽  
Music Collection ◽  
Similar Materials ◽  
Instruments And Techniques ◽  
And Gender

This book traces the roots of blackface minstrelsy—and the creole sounds, practices, and procedures that made minstrelsy possible—by analyzing the artworks, letters, sketchbooks, music collection, ephemera, and biography of William Sidney Mount, together with similar materials from some of his predecessors and contemporaries. It argues that nineteenth-century blackface is not a radical new invention, but rather the codification and theatricalization of a cluster of working-class performance idioms that were already familiar from the boundary zones of streets, wharves, decks, and fairgrounds. It also uses ethnography and ethnochoreology to reconstruct the behavioral contexts in which minstrelsy took place, along with its creole synthesis of music-and-movement, sound, and the body across boundaries of race, class, geography, and time. This chapter looks at a few preliminary examples that confirm Mount's relevance as a visual source for minstrelsy's musicological reconstruction, including information that he provides on musical instruments and techniques in the period, as well as attitudes about class, race, and gender.

Impoliteness in hip-hop music

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Delis
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
White Male ◽  
White Female ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
The Social ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
And Gender

Abstract The aim of this paper is to examine the functionality of impoliteness strategies as rhetorical devices employed by acclaimed African American and White hip-hop artists. It focuses on the social and artistic function of the key discursive element of hip-hop, namely aggressive language. The data for this paper comprise songs of US African American and White performers retrieved from the November 2017 ‘TOP100 Chart’ for international releases on Spotify.com. A cursory look at the sub-corpora (Black male/ Black female/ White male/ White female artists’ sub-corpus) revealed the prominence of the ‘use taboo words’ impoliteness strategy. The analysis of impoliteness instantiations by considering race and gender as determining factors in the lyrics selection process unveiled that both male groups use impoliteness strategies more frequently than female groups. It is also suggested that Black male and White female singers employ impoliteness to resist oppression, offer a counter-narrative about their own experience and self (re)presentation and reinforce in group solidarity.

Adolescents’ Internalizing Behaviors after Extreme Violence Exposure: A Comparison of Race and Gender for African American and Asian American Youth

2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan-Yi Chen
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Community Violence ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Violence Exposure ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Internalizing Behaviors ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Asian American Adolescents ◽  
Minority Adolescents ◽  
And Gender

This study compares African American and Asian American adolescents in their rates of extreme community violence exposure and consequent internalizing behaviors. Using information from a national longitudinal survey this study found substantial violence exposure rates for both groups. Also, gender differences in exposure rates and adolescent reports of internalizing behaviors after violence exposure were detected. Male African American adolescents had the highest exposure rate, while female Asian American adolescents reported the highest level of internalizing behaviors. These findings suggest further research is needed to better understand the effect of violence exposure on various ethnic minority adolescents. Moreover, social workers and other professionals involved in adolescent services could use these results to improve outreach methods to vulnerable adolescents.

scholarly journals A Legal History of the New Zealand Jury Service - Introduction, Evolution, and Equality?

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Michèle Powles
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Jury Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jury System ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Service Introduction

This article traces the development of the New Zealand jury system. Most noteworthy in thisdevelopment has been the lack of controversy the system has created. At the end of the nineteenth century, however, the pursuit of equality in the legal system generally led to debate and reform of juries in relation to representation, race and gender.

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