The history of Blackface minstrel shows in the United States is shocking. Princeton historian Rhae Lynn Barnes has spent decades digging through archives and private collections to reveal the extraordinary extent to which the caricatured and dehumanizing depiction of formerly enslaved people was a staple of community entertainment for more than two centuries.

In the mid-19th century, blackface evolved from a niche burlesque sideshow to a national obsession, performed in churches, Elks Clubs, schools, on Capitol Hill, and even at the Washington, DC, Gridiron Dinner. Barnes reveals how the practice was eventually federalized during the Great Depression and World War II, used as a bizarre tool of "Americanization" on military bases and in POW camps. Nearly every president until Gerald Ford attended minstrel shows, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was scheduled to attend one on the day he died.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, minstrel shows were used to portray Black Americans as inferior; in fact, the ‘Jim Crow’ South was named after blackface’s founding character. But Barnes also chronicles the long, overlooked Civil Rights fight to stop it, detailing how Black veterans and mothers mobilized to banish the practice from American life.

Author Rhae Lynn Barnes will join host Paul Sparrow for a conversation about her stunning new book, Darkology, and the damage it has done to generations of Americans. 

Rhae Lynn Barnes is an assistant professor of American cultural history at Princeton University and the Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University.

The Fireside Chat series is organized and moderated by Paul Sparrow, a writer, historical consultant, and the former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Before moving to the FDR Library, he was the Deputy Director and Senior Vice President at the Newseum in Washington, DC. He is the author of the book, Awakening the Spirit of America: FDR's War of Words With Charles Lindbergh—and the Battle to Save Democracy.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of their book from Browseabout Books. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes signed. Books will be available for sale and for signing at the event.

Each individual attending in-person must register to reserve a seat. Do not list two people on one registration.

This collaborative program by the Lewes Public Library, History Book Festival, and Browseabout Books is part of a series in observation of America250, which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, marking America’s Semiquincentennial. 

President Franklin Roosevelt broadcast his first Fireside Chat on March 12th, 1933, just eight days after his inauguration. During his 12 years in office he delivered dozens of Fireside Chats, guiding America through the Great Depression, and guiding a global audience through the horrors of World War Two. FDR’s Fireside Chats were a new form of political communication, using radio to connect with Americans in an intimate setting – right in their living rooms. His compelling and persuasive broadcasts encouraged Americans to believe in democracy and its future. Paul Sparrow, a nationally recognized expert on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the former director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, hosts this series of programs that build on the foundation laid by FDR’s Fireside Chats, and find their relevance to our world today.

NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER and indicate which you prefer. Each individual attending must register.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email the library.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.