Blackface

Examines Hollywood’s painful, enduring ties to racist performances. * Variety *
Sharp … In explicitly laying out the history and costs of blackface performance, [Ayanna Thompson] fully meets her stated aim of offering an accessible book that constitutes part of an ongoing "arc toward justice." * Times Higher Education *
Blackface reveals a legacy of performance that is pointed and detrimental, known but purposely forgotten. Thompson’s analysis is exquisite and exact. A new entry for the historical record. * Ibram X. Kendi, Founding Director, Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, and author of How to Be An Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning *
Essential! This is a lucid, engaging, and long overdue exorcism of American culture's greatest haunt. * Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Associate Director, Playwriting MFA program, Hunter College, CUNY, USA, recipient of the Obie Award for Best New American Play (Appropriate, An Octoroon) and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Gloria, Everybody) *
A truly eye-opening, defiant, must-read. * West End Best Friend *
Wide-ranging and hard-hitting… a passionate, well-informed, and gripping read… another triumph for Object Lessons. * New York Journal of Books *
This is great book, brave and clear, with excellent analyses and memorable arguments and examples. * Aleks Sierz *
For Ayanna Thompson, the Arizona-based author of a new book titled Blackface, understanding the present moment requires exploring the past, including ways systemic racism is rooted and reflected in blackface performance … Drawing examples from popular culture and performance history, Thompson expertly dismantles various defenses of blackface minstrelsy. * City Sun Times *
Crisp and clearly argued. * The Sydney Morning Herald *