The Center for the American Experience invites you to join Rhae Lynn Barnes, Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University, and Jonathan Square, Assistant Professor of Black Visual Culture at Parsons, for a discussion of Barnes's book Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment. Darkology is a major study of the history of blackface minstrelsy in the United States, showing how deeply it shaped American entertainment, institutions, and racial politics from the nineteenth century through the Civil Rights era and beyond. Drawing on extensive archival research, Barnes challenges the idea that blackface was marginal or short-lived, revealing instead how widely it spread across schools, churches, universities, military spaces, and public life.
Presented by the Center for American Experience at the New School
Rhae Lynn Barnes is an Assistant Professor of American Cultural History at Princeton University and a leading scholar of amateur blackface minstrelsy, American popular culture, race, gender, and book history. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University and her B.A. from UC Berkeley. Barnes is also a historian, public speaker, writer, editor, documentarian, and co-founder of U.S. History Scene, and has contributed to major public history projects. Her broader bibliography includes American Contact and scholarly work on racial representation, American music history, white supremacy, and material culture.
Center for the American Experience examines the past and present of the United States through scholarship, dialogue, and public engagement. It fosters critical inquiry into democracy, freedom, equality, and pluralism, bringing together academic and civic perspectives.
Discover more CAE events here.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum sagittis mi eu elementum malesuada. Maecenas arcu felis, suscipit vitae mi in, posuere ultricies nunc. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut ante velit, condimentum eget erat a, suscipit porttitor nisl. Pellentesque in semper nunc. Duis ultricies lacus nec dolor elementum efficitur. Cras congue neque et ipsum egestas, tincidunt tempor magna elementum. Maecenas in rhoncus ante, ac mattis lectus. Donec pulvinar nulla a varius malesuada. Ut auctor enim mi, mollis laoreet eros aliquam eget. Proin lectus tellus, ullamcorper nec neque a, ornare facilisis tellus. Proin in eros sit amet diam imperdiet varius. Duis tincidunt dolor nibh, ac interdum odio molestie vel. Cras dignissim enim at mi varius aliquet.
