Slavery and Sentiment on the American Stage, 1787-1861 : Lifting the Veil of Black (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama)

Nathans, Heather S.

Cambridge University Press（2009/03発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 288 p.／サイズ 10 halftones
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780521870115
• DDC分類 792.097309034

基本説明

Examines how both black and white Americans used the theatre to fight negative stereotypes of African Americans in the United States.

Full Description

For almost a hundred years before Uncle Tom's Cabin burst on to the scene in 1852, the American theatre struggled to represent the evils of slavery. Slavery and Sentiment questions how the text, images, and performances presented to American audiences during the antebellum period engaged with the debate over black participation in American society. The book reconsiders traditional comic stereotypes like Jim Crow, as well as familiar sentimental ones, such as Uncle Tom. Using plays, poetry, performances, popular novels, and political cartoons, Heather Nathans blends American history, theatre history, and literary history to question how theatre and performance lifted the 'veil of black' on American racism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book contributes to the ongoing discussion of the role of African-American characters and performers in American cultural history, offering scholars in a range of fields a new perspective on a complicated moment in the nation's theatrical past.

Contents

Introduction; 1. A nation's promise; 2. The rules change; 3. Fantasies of Africa; 4. Sentimental enterprise - Yankees and Sambos; 5. Peace or a sword?; 6. Lead us not into temptation; Epilogue.