(0)
(0)
(0)
(0)
(0)Mel Watkins
Description
Watkins (an author, he was an editor at the New York Times Book Review) has compiled an anthology of Black humor that, perhaps inadvertently, reveals much about changes in American as well as Black society. The lengthy excerpts are printed with little prefatory material, though a historical introduction is provided for each chapter. An appendix contains a list of authors with short biographies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland,...
Description
The blackface minstrel show occupies a central and contested space in the history of American popular culture. Its imitations and parodies helped shape society's perceptions of African Americans - and of women - and made their mark on national identity, policymaking decisions, and other entertainment forms such as vaudeville, burlesque, the revue, and, eventually, film, radio, and television. Gathered here are rare primary materials - including firsthand...
Description
A character named Stepin Fetchit may have opened the Hollywood door for other black actors. But many wished that he had stepped on rather than with Hollywood's stereo typical Uncle Tom image. The lazy, shiftless cowardly Stepin Fetchit played by Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, could be depended on in late 20's and the early 30's to turn white in a graveyard scene or to literally sleep through a romantic scene. However, behind this "shiftless...