SKU: 87940203042

Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment

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Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of EntertainmentNever before has the disturbing story of blackface and its piercing reflection of American society been so comprehensively told. With Darkology, Princeton historian Rhae Lynn Barnes meticulously unravels the complex, subterranean, and all too often expunged history of "Darkology" the insidious study, commodification, and dehumanization of Black life, through which performers caricatured the enslaved and formerly enslaved for their supposed

Never before has the disturbing story of blackface and its piercing reflection of American society been so comprehensively told. With Darkology, Princeton historian Rhae Lynn Barnes meticulously unravels the complex, subterranean, and all-too-often expunged history of "Darkology"--the insidious study, commodification, and dehumanization of Black life, through which performers caricatured the enslaved and formerly enslaved for their supposed subservience and happy demeanor.

Given the extraordinary research reflected in Darkology, it's not surprising that Barnes spent twenty years tracking down "fading photographs, old movies, bureaucratic detritus, moldy scripts, and living witnesses, assembling an impressive archive that allowed her to demonstrate the astonishingly broad reach of blackface minstrelsy" (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich). Painstakingly piecing together these scattered shards of evidence, Barnes reveals the shocking extent to which blackface took center stage in every era of American history.

This was not a fringe activity. By 1830, as political resistance to slavery grew, blackface exploded from a niche performance into a venomous national export. Within a decade, hardly a theater in the country didn't put on minstrel shows. Following the Civil War, this grotesque entertainment soared, seeping from professional theaters into everyday amateur shows, print, and advertisements. It was everywhere: Elks Clubs, religious institutions, battlefields, universities, and schools. It wasn't just in the Jim Crow era; it defined it. The very name "Jim Crow" derives from minstrelsy's founding character.

Darkology dismantles the myth that blackface was a fleeting, post-Civil War phenomenon. Even in eras known for liberal progressivism, it flourished. Barnes unearths the startling fact that four-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt was a devotee who died hours before a blackface show he had commissioned at Warm Springs. It permeated U.S. military bases and was even used in World War II Japanese American concentration camps and German POW camps as a bizarre tool of "Americanization."

After WWII, the tide began to turn as Black veterans and mothers in places like suburban California protested the practice in schools. Still, blackface performances proved resilient, surfacing as late as 1969 at the University of Vermont. Even as the Civil Rights movement fought for equality, blackface remained present in American politics and white supremacist organizing through the Nixon and Ford administrations, its legacy still percolating in variable forms today.

By tracing minstrelsy's evolution through oral histories, material culture, and a wide range of multimedia sources, Barnes's "masterpiece" (David Blight) forces us to reckon with the myriad ways the American Dream wore blackface. Recasting this American story with "vivid and engaging storytelling" (Howard French), Darkology is a landmark work that peers beneath the boulders deliberately obscuring our past--illuminating a path toward a more just and equal society in America's future.
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SKU: 87940203042

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Alp acct
Port Orchard, US
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doesn't whistle as loud as other chuckit balls I've seen, but a good ball.
makes some noise, but I've seen (and played with) others at the dog park that whistle much louder than the 1 I got. all Chuckit balls... so, just this one I'm betting. but it flys good and the dog loves to chase it. he chews it a fair bit as well and the ball has not taken much damage from him (lab mix) or others that have had a go at it. I'll likely buy another at some point ... just wish it was a little louder when flying.
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★★★★★ 5
Blue ball, my dog likes blue.
Just a ball right? Evidently not! My dog won’t chase an orange chuck it ball or the glow in the dark ball- only the blue one 🤷🏼‍♀️
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Baker-s
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I wanted a blue ball
It's great. It just wasn't blue.
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its a great ball
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capriceclassic
Whiting, US
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Awesome for hyper dogs
Color: Blue
AWESOME - I have a dog that just won't stop trying to get me to play with him ALL day! I turn this thing on and he goes nuts and tires himself out...without any help from me. The cover got torn off and torn up in minutes but he doesn't care. He just wants this ball. My other dogs, who are older, aren't really interested. But if you have a hyper dog this is the thing for you and them!
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