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This Historian Dug up the Hidden History of 'Amateur' Blackface in America

Historian Rhae Lynn Barnes uncovered a concealed trove of blackface material after a Library of Congress librarian admitted hiding books for fear of KKK misuse. Her new book, Darkology, reveals how amateur minstrel shows proliferated in the 19th‑century United States, even receiving official promotion from the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The practice persisted through schools, fraternal clubs, and commercial makeup lines until civil‑rights‑era mothers helped drive it out of mainstream culture by the 1970s. Barnes argues that confronting this hidden history is essential for understanding America’s racial narrative.