An exploration of race relations in American popular culture, focusing particularly on blackface--strange, often scandalous, and now taboo entertainment. Although blackface performance came to be denounced as purely racist mockery, and shamefacedly erased from most modern accounts of American cultural history, Strausbaugh shows that, nevertheless, its impact has been deep and longlasting. Strausbaugh illuminates truths about race rarely discussed in public, including: --American culture conforms neither to knee-jerk racism nor to political correctness. It is neither Black nor White nor Other, but a mix. --No history is best forgotten--however uncomfortable it may be to remember. The power of blackface to enrage and mortify Americans to this day is reason enough to examine what it still tells us about our culture and ourselves. --Blackface is still alive. Its impact and derivations--including Black performers in "whiteface"--can be seen all around us.--From publisher description.