Blackface and minstrel shows were a highly popular form of entertainment at the school for the first fifty years, if not longer. A faculty review in The Virginia Teacher from February 1920 notes that on the night of January 23, “the auditorium of Harrison Hall was packed and overflowing with a very appreciative audience which witnessed an old-time minstrel show presented by the Degree and Postgraduate classes.” Praising the performances of four students—two of which played the derogatory stereotyped characters “Bones” and “Sambo,”—the reviewer goes on to say, “These ‘culled persons’ kept the audience in a continuous roar with their jokes and remarks concerning certain celebrities of the town as well as of the school.” Additionally, this show was apparently a fundraiser event of sorts: “Although this was a dark night at the Normal, yet the darkness had a silver lining for the graduate classes made one hundred and forty dollars!” (for a digitized reproduction of this review, see the “Racial Perspectives” page on the menu bar).These shows were performed in various campus buildings, including what are now known as Maury Hall, Keezel Hall, and Harrison Hall.
Crossdressing gendered these performances. Since no male students were admitted until after the second World War, women both blackened their faces and donned men’s clothing (though to retain a degree of modesty dresses were still worn underneath jackets and shirts). In addition to public minstrel shows, it was not uncommon for students to practice blackface during other functions, such as student parties and extracurricular activities. There is also evidence that blackface was used as an initiation/hazing method for school clubs, as the “mysterious initiation” letter from alumni V. Inez Graybeal Roop (’35) demonstrates (see gallery below).
Minstrel shows and blackface remained popular for decades. A cover article in The Breeze from November 5, 1954 shows three male students in blackface during a “Plantation Party” performance (see gallery below). The story reports that President G. Tyler Miller, Mrs. Miller, and their daughter Elise were designated the “proprietors of the plantation,” and sat in a privileged seat on the “porch” where they “watched the gaiety and listened to the music of a combo and the songs of the Southern belles” (see gallery below). Roughly six months before this performance, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka that state laws establishing separate schools for black and white students were unconstitutional.
Evidence from past yearbooks reveal that blackface was practiced on campus well into the 1960s, at least through sorority functions and informal gatherings. For example, The 1967 Bluestone features a group of students in blackface with a Confederate flag, along with the vague caption “Remember when . . .” beneath. The freshman photograph of Sheary Darcus Johnson (’70), the first African American graduate at Madison College, appears in the same yearbook (see gallery below).
Members of Phi Mus at a sorority event, Bluestone 1963.
From Bluestone 1967.
Gallery: Minstrel Shows & Blackface on Campus, 1917-1954
