Halloween and Blackface
Haylee Wilkie
Blackface in the twenty first century is mostly seen during the holiday of Halloween, when people impersonate characters, celebrities, and historical figures. Despite many criticisms, a multitude of public figures have used blackface for their own personal entertainment during Halloween.
In recent years, many celebrities have become public spectacles due to their involvement with blackface and Halloween.On October 23, 2018, Megyn Kelly, former NBC news anchor, admitted on her show Megyn Kelly Today that she questioned why wearing blackface for Halloween was considered racist. In her discussion panel, Kelly said, “But what is racist? Because you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.” Her discussion panel did not include a single panelist that was a person of color, but many of the white panelists disagreed with Kelly’s stance. After her segment was aired, a whirlwind of controversy started on social media. Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi tweeted, “I cannot believe the ignorance on this in 2018. You are on national television, you have a responsibility to educate yourself on social issues @megynkelly. This is so damaging.” The controversy propelled Kelly to apologize for her statements (Kludt).
Megyn Kelly is not the only celebrity to receive backlash on the issue. “Dancing with the Stars” celebrity Julianne Hough received criticisms after she dressed up as “Susanne, Crazy Eyes” from Orange is the New Black. Hough donned complete blackface for the costume. Colton Hayes, the lead in Teen Wolf, went to a Halloween party in 2011 dressed as Kanye West wearing full blackface, and the following year he darkened his skin to portray Gandhi. Just recently in 2018, Jason Aldean wore fake dreadlocks and blackface to portray Lil Wayne (Criss).
The list of black face and Halloween portrayals does not stop with just celebrities. There is an ever-growing list of politicians that have used blackface over the years. Louisiana House of Representatives candidate Robbie Gatti wore blackface dressed as golfer Tiger Woods at a fall festival church event. Gatti commented that his opponents were trying to attack “a good night at church” (Dickerson). Florida Secretary of State Mike Ertel had photos taken of him back in 2004 at a Halloween party wearing blackface in his costume of a hurricane Katrina victim just two months after the hurricane destruction. A New York state lawmaker Don Hikind wore blackface at a party as an African American basketball player. State Representative Anthony Sabatini was asked to resign after photos emerged of him wearing blackface as an African American rapper at a party (Criss).
Most recently, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has faced major backlash as a photo of him wearing blackface emerged. Northam appeared in blackface next to a man donning KKK attire. At first, Northam apologized for the photo then denied even being in the photo at all. Afterwards, Northam admitted to wearing blackface, but not in that particular photo but as impersonating Michael Jackson for Halloween (Schweers).
Universities have also been scrutinized, due to many zero tolerance policies, by blackface appearing in Halloween parties. Recently, Brigham Young University dealt with a small scandal as the school prepared for a symposium held for the 50th anniversary of the report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and heard rumors of a white student appearing at a party in blackface (Jaschik). Brigham Young is far from being alone in this issue. Universities all across the country have had incidents like this one. Both Purdue University and the University of Oregon had scandals with professors wearing blackface on their personal Instagram account (Flaherty) . Several universities have had problems with white female students wearing black face masks with derogatory captions on the popular app Snapchat (Jaschik).
The growing list of offender politicians, celebrities, and universities continues, as blackface is still seen as acceptable by many Americans in the United States. According to a Pew Research Center poll, about one-third of Americans believe that blackface for Halloween is acceptable in 2019. The poll sampled about 5,600 Americans. Of these results, white Americans had the highest percentage at 39% which is doubled that of the black American percentage at 19% (Ortiz). With over one-third of Americans agreeing that blackface is acceptable, there is a direct correlation to so many celebrity and politicians exposed to scandals without the threat of losing their jobs or their livelihood.
To combat Americans who think that blackface on Halloween is appropriate, DoSomething.org created a campaign called Just Don’t Wear Blackface. This campaign is driven by Americans taking selfies near Halloween with captions that promote not wearing blackface. This campaign is aimed at reminding people celebrating Halloween that blackface is racist and should not be included in Halloween costumes. DoSomething.org also offers information on their website that educates individuals who believe that blackface is appropriate. DoSomething.org offers alternative suggestions as well, such as dressing like a person of another color without doing so with blackface or in a derogatory, racist way (Wong).
Another helpful campaign is Tolerance.org advice on how to teach younger students about culturally appropriate Halloween costumes and activities. The website provides a full lesson plan on “What Do Halloween Costumes Say?” a plan based on understanding the racism of blackface and other sexist or culturally insensitive costumes to young children. These lesson plans are directed towards elementary school-aged children who are currently learning about the history of racism in America. The large takeaway of the lesson is that “Halloween costumes are designed for fun, but some costumes perpetuate stereotypes or reinforce limited and/or hurtful ways of thinking about people.” The lesson plan also includes defining words such as “stereotype” and “analyze” and include analyzing a costume’s intentions (“What Do Halloween Costumes Say?”).
With helpful campaigns, it is the hope that the statistics for Americans acceptance of blackface will continue to decline. Further education and enforced consequences could help shift our cultural awareness to choose non offensive Halloween costumes.
Works Cited
Criss, Doug. “Virginia Isn’t a One-off. Here’s a (Growing) List of Celebs and Lawmakers Who Got in Trouble over Blackface.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Feb. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/02/07/us/celebrities-in-blackface-list-trnd/index.html.
Dickerson, Seth. “Candidate: Blackface Part of ‘Good Night at Church’.” Shreveporttimes.com, Shreveport Times, 27 Feb. 2017, www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2017/02/27/political-website-shows-la-house-candidate-blackface/98478246/.
Flaherty, Colleen. “Purdue Will Not Punish Professor Who Shared Blackface Throwback Photo.” Inside Higher Ed, www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/07/05/purdue-will-not-punish-professor-who-shared-blackface-throwback-photo.
Jaschik, Scott. “As Halloween Approaches, Another University Faces a Blackface Incident.” As Halloween Approaches, Another University Faces a Blackface Incident, www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/10/29/halloween-approaches-another-university-faces-blackface-incident.
Kludt, Tom. “Megyn Kelly Apologizes for Defending Blackface Halloween Costumes.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 Oct. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/10/23/media/megyn-kelly-blackface/index.html.
Schweers, Jeffrey. “Florida Secretary of State Mike Ertel Resigns after Halloween Blackface Photos Emerge.” Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee Democrat, 25 Jan. 2019, www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/01/24/new-secretary-state-ertel-dressed-blackface-halloween-2005/2649161002/.
The Daily Beast. “Most Controversial Celebrity Halloween Costumes: Ashley Benson’s ‘Cecil the Lion’ and More.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 29 Oct. 2016, www.thedailybeast.com/most-controversial-celebrity-halloween-costumes-ashley-bensons-cecil-the-lion-and-more.
Ortiz, Erik. “Poll: One-Third of Americans Say Blackface for Halloween Can Be OK.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 11 Feb. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/one-third-americans-say-blackface-halloween-can-be-ok-pew-n970131.
“What Do Halloween Costumes Say?” Teaching Tolerance, www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/what-do-halloween-costumes-say.
Wong, Alex. “Why Wearing Blackface Is Never OK.” DoSomething.org, www.dosomething.org/us/articles/dont-wear-blackface.
