Summary Of Staging Race By Karen Sotiropoulos

In Staging Race: Black Performers in Turn of the Century America, author Karen Sotiropoulos sets out to describe black artists and their art as “ constitutive of and emblematic of their own generation” (1). Centered in the years post-Civil War and during the dawn of the Jim Crow laws in the late 19th century, Staging Race focuses on the advancement of African American artists in the flourishing cities in America. Artists held the stage in America’s growing entertainment and commercial sector. However, author Sotiropoulos is meticulously in reminding readers that although there were possibilities for advancements, there were still prevalent struggles among artists. Facing racial violence, segregation, disenfranchisement, and social Darwinism,

The author sets the tone as she begins her narrative in a quest to Chicago’s World Fair. She describes the inception of the fair, the exhibits of the fair, and the significance of the expo on social and cultural America. Readers are introduced to the first minstrel performances. Throughout this narrative, the author employs illustrations to further allow readers into this view. Moving through chapters two and three, Sotiropoulos unravels the vaudeville stages and the perception of the “coon” imagery. Over time, Vaudeville replaced minstrelsy, but it reinforced the “racism of the larger society, and to perform onstage black artists had to incorporate much racist imagery”(45). The author pays close attention to this struggle and describes how influential characters such as Bert Williams and George Walker begin to dominate black vaudeville. She pens this description of their work: “ [they] sought to entertain, but also saw the popular stage as an arena where they could push against stereotypes” (4). Williams and Hogan “brought a black political agenda to their stage productions”(3). Sotiropoulos challenges the stereotypes of the minstrel mask and brings the black community to a positive light for

Cook and Paul Laurence Dunbar play an instrumental role in black artistry in the nineteenth-century. They tackled the issues of “black America’s relationship to Africa”(123). Sotiropoulos brings her work to culmination as she uncovers the migration of black bohemia to Harlem. She noted that during this time, “[black performers] played “darky” roles, but they made clear they were not that which they performed, instead they presented... as skilled