The C.​O.​W.​S. w/ Dr. Kellen Hoxworth: Minstrels Shows & The Global Culture of White Supremacy 🎭

Blackface minstrelsy functioned as a global "furniture of empire," serving as a systemic tool to reinforce white identity and superiority across the Anglophone world. These performances were not isolated incidents but a repetitive, deliberate cultural project that mediated racial thinking in the United States, Britain, and their colonies. By mocking abolitionist efforts and portraying enslaved people as content, these shows managed white anxieties regarding racial hierarchy and interracial sexuality. Dr. Kellen Hoxworth, an assistant professor of theater, explains that this performance culture was highly fungible, allowing white audiences to adapt tropes to local political contexts while maintaining a consistent structure of subjugation. Through the circulation of derogatory language and imagery, minstrelsy established a "common sense" of racial being that supported imperial projects and continues to influence modern white supremacist sentiments.