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Haunted city : three centuries of racial impersonation in Philadelphia / Christian DuComb.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- DuComb, Christian.
- Series:
- Theater--text/theory/performance
- Theater: theory/text/performance
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Theater--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.
- Theater.
- Blackface entertainers--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.
- Blackface entertainers.
- Mumming--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.
- Mumming.
- Racism and the arts--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.
- Racism and the arts.
- Parades--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.
- Parades.
- History.
- Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
- Genre:
- Electronic books.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource.
- Place of Publication:
- Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2017]
- System Details:
- text file
- Summary:
- Haunted City explores the history of racial impersonation in Philadelphia from the late eighteenth century through the present day. The book focuses on select historical moments, such as the advent of the minstrel show and the ban on blackface makeup in the Philadelphia Mummers Parade, when local performances of racial impersonation inflected regional, national, transnational, and global formations of race. Mummers have long worn blackface makeup during winter holiday celebrations in Europe and North America; in Philadelphia, mummers' blackface persisted from the colonial period well into the twentieth century. The first annual Mummers Parade, a publicly sanctioned procession from the working-class neighborhoods of South Philadelphia to the city center, occurred in 1901. Despite a ban on blackface in the Mummers Parade after civil rights protests in 1963-64, other forms of racial and ethnic impersonation in the parade have continued to flourish unchecked. Haunted City combines detailed historical research with the author's own experiences performing in the Mummers Parade to create a lively and richly illustrated narrative. Through its interdisciplinary approach, Haunted City addresses theater history and performance studies, as well as folklore, American studies, critical race theory, and art history, to offer a fresh take on the historiography of the antebellum minstrel show. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- 1 Haunted City 1
- 2 Orientalism, Blackness, and Femininity in the Meschianza and Slaves in Algiers 26
- 3 Life in Philadelphia: Racial Caricature in Graphic Art and Performance 58
- 4 Parade Time: Colonel Pluck, Bobalition, and Minstrel Remains 86
- 5 The Minstrel Wench and the Mummers Wench: A Performance Genealogy 117.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-178) and index.
- Description based on information from the publisher.
- ISBN:
- 9780472073580
- 9780472053582
- 9780472123018
- Publisher Number:
- 10.3998/mpub.7380855
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license.
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