Whiting up : whiteface minstrels & stage Europeans in African American performance / Marvin McAllister.

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In this work, McAllister defines and explores whiting up, a long tradition in which African American actors, comics, musicians, and even everyday people have assumed white racial identities in a performative context. Whether in 19th century minstrel shows, in stage European performances where black actors take on white roles on the conventional stage, in musicals and satires crafted by a variety of African American dramatists, or in one-person shows by artists like Anna Devere Smith, McAllister argues that this form of cross-racial play creates unexpected intercultural alliances even as it inc.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : whiting up work -- Chapter 1. Liberatory whiteness : early whiteface minstrels, enslaved and free -- Chapter 2. Imitation whiteness : James Hewlett's stage Europeans -- Chapter 3. Low-down whiteness : a trip to coontown -- Chapter 4. Trespassing on whiteness : Negro actors and the Nordic complex -- Chapter 5. Estranging whiteness : queens, clowns, and beasts in 1960s Black drama -- Chapter 6. White people be like-- : Black solo and racial difference -- Conclusion : problems and possibilities of whiting up.

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