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- Title
Authenticity, Mimicry, and Early African American Entertainment.
- Authors
Lee, Josephine
- Abstract
African Americans skilled in cross-racial mimicry (such as Jacob [Harry] Fiddler, a noted Chinese impersonator lauded as "the man of many faces" 18) could claim the same privileges as white performers playing similar roles. Lewis declares that "not only the uglier and lower phases of Negro life are to be depicted but those of refinement are to be delineated", and this range of abilities shown by African American performers will "prove the cramped condition of the colored performer." Josephine Lee American Quarterly, Volume 73, Number 1, March 2021, pp. 151-156 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: For additional information about this article [ Access provided at 8 Apr 2021 06:28 GMT from Ebsco Publishing ] https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2021.0010 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/786749 | 151 © 2021 The American Studies Association Josephine Lee I n the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, African Americans had reason to be wary of the term authenticity as applied to theatrical performance. Chinese immigrant characters, for instance, were regularly played by African American vaudeville and musical theater performers in individual specialty numbers and duos titled "The Chinaman and the Coon.".
- Subjects
AFRICAN Americans; AFRICAN American actors; PRAISE
- Publication
American Quarterly, 2021, Vol 73, Issue 1, pN.PAG
- ISSN
0003-0678
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/aq.2021.0010