I bought a “Girls Companion” book from the 1940s and it has tips on how to do blackface for a “Mammy” costume

    by mrothstein24

    25 Comments

    1. Considering the chapters entitled “Fancy Dress” makes me think it was published in England where “Fancy Dress Parties” with outlandish costumes are still a thing. Remember when then Prince Harry went to a fancy dress party dressed as Nazi’s?

      https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/why-a-nazi-prince-stood-out-at-the-colonials-and-natives-party-kbgfvkmfv65?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqceawKE912bMZZFdRLDIInGxm1LSvbciDtkcL6OXVSd2CChjnIaFOfh9tBLW7Y%3D&gaa_ts=698cc4ff&gaa_sig=DB0wbzmwL7J4K46wmdduQBwB91dyfg5OnIor-LoFvhvimOiUeEIQtP9WIR7QArTauM9gRZewLzEJBncaBN3Nvw%3D%3D

    2. Subject_Bet_6693 on

      I love old books and seeing how things have changed, I have my great grandfathers medical books from when he was in the navy and hand written in the margins is “if a sailor is having a seizure, unfortunately the best course of action for the safety of the crew is to throw the sailor overboard”. They thought seizures were contagious

    3. Must be from the UK as the collection is called “Fancy Dress” and not “Costumes”. Not that the US was any better.

    4. This is really impressive, every word is worse than the last. My personal favourite is “you have probably heard of using soot…”

      What do you *mean* “probably heard”, how frequent an occurrence could blackface possibly have been that the average Jane would have “probably heard” how to pull it off?

    5. Slipp3ry_N00dle on

      This instantly reminded me of how my girlfriend’s icelandic mom absolutely loves black mammy dolls in an almost concerning way. Has them all over her house.

    6. TheLostRanger0117 on

      Stratagems! Hey, who’s playing Helldivers these days? Don’t stop till Cyberstan is ours!

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