Ayanna Thompson: Story Behind the Story

Why did you write Blackface?

I wrote Blackface because I was trying to explain why black actors are rarely labeled as virtuosos. I realized there was a longer history to tell about the performance practices of racial impersonation—a history that has deeper roots and longer legacies than I had encountered in other books. I wanted this to be the clearest and most concise account of the history and implications for blackface performances to combat the historical amnesia around them.

This is a tough topic to confront. How hard was it to write?

It was surprisingly easy to write. Once I had the frame about my son, the entire book just flowed. 

This book required significant research. How long has it been evolving? And were there discoveries along the way that particularly surprised you?

I couldn’t have written this book at the beginning of my career because I would not have had the deep historical knowledge that the book required. As a Shakespeare scholar, I was well-versed in the early modern history, but I had to learn a lot of the 19th century history. I’m really fascinated by that history now, and I can see that it will feature in my future work significantly. 

You made the decision to include in your exploration of blackface in performance recent events like the death of George Floyd. When you were planning the writing, did you expect to delve as much as you did into the contemporary landscape of racial injustice?

I started writing the book around May 1st, and George Floyd was murdered on May 25th. At first I tried to compartmentalize that reality; it was simply too painful to examine fully. But when I got to the concluding chapter, I made myself watch the video of George Floyd’s murder, and I realized that there was a thread that connected the history of blackface performances and the demonization of black life. I felt compelled to make the connection clear by the time I finished the first draft. 

You start the book with the story of seeing white children in your son’s school dressed in blackface as part of a school project. How important was it for you to share your personal experience?

That event was pivotal for me because it offered a way to frame all of the complex issues that I wanted to unpack. Why did these 8-year olds think it was appropriate or necessary to blacken their faces? And why didn’t the black and brown children think it was appropriate or necessary to whiten theirs? Blackface answers both of these separate but entwined questions. 

You describe in the opening the idea of amnesia continuing to motivate the appearance of blackface in society. Can you explain this?

Americans love to forget, and maybe that stems from the fact that we are a nation of immigrants who had to forget some of our pasts to be able to create something new in this country. So forgetting can be beneficial, but that is not always true in all circumstances. Forgetting can also be corrosive, and blackface is a history that Americans love to forget and to treat as something that only occurred in the 19th century. Hello, watch late night television at the beginning of the 21st century, and you cannot escape that zombie! 

This book is an important work of historical scholarship, one that’s published at a time when racial justice issues are in the center of American debate. Do you hope Blackface will help drive change?

Honestly, I hope this book helps to put a stake in the heart of blackface performances. No. More. Blackface.

Now that you’ve written and published this, do you feel like you can move on to other topics? Or do you expect to continue exploring this painful tradition?

Oddly, the initial question that led me to write Blackface—why aren’t black actors labelled as virtuosos—still persists for me. I’m haunted by that questions, and to answer it I think it will require a different kind of book. So that is what I am pursuing now.

more from Ayanna on Transformations:

Blackface and a History of Amnesia and From Wall Street to Shakespeare