MyLU Insider

History of Blackface on Campus – April 16

Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 7:00 – 8:30pm |Warch Campus Center Cinema (204)

Join us for a panel examining the origins and lasting impact of the practice of blackface in America. Panelists include: Erin Dix , University Archivist and Assistant Professor, Erica Scheinberg, Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, and Shaun Brown, Student.

The recent controversy regarding the Governor of Virginia’s 1984 medical school yearbook page that contained photographs of a person in blackface with others dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan has caused many college communities to investigate the history of this practice at their institutions and its implications for campus climate today. The panel will examine the history of minstrelsy, archival information regarding this practice at universities across the country including Lawrence, and current student reaction to these recent events. Brief opening remarks by each panelist will be followed by Q & A from the audience. This panel is an opportunity to better understand a practice that ensconced many of the stereotypes we know today regarding African Americans in our national collective consciousness.     

Please let us know you are coming >  go.lawrence.edu/13276