blackface

noun

black·face ˈblak-ˌfās

often attributive

: dark makeup worn to mimic the appearance of a Black person and especially to mock or ridicule Black people

Note: The wearing of blackface by white performers was, from the early 19th through the mid-20th centuries, a prominent feature of minstrel shows (see minstrel sense 3a) and similar forms of entertainment featuring exaggerated and inaccurate caricatures of Black people. The use of blackface is considered deeply offensive.

plural blackfaces : a performer wearing blackface : minstrel sense 3a

Examples of blackface in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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It was meant to be a humorous examination of gender roles, and Torres played a mother named Solange and appeared in blackface as a maid named Dalva. —

Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 29 Jan. 2025 Related: See All the New Justin Baldoni & Blake Lively’s Texts & Emails—Including the One That References Taylor Swift Did Blake Lively wear blackface? —

Caroline Bell, StyleCaster, 23 Jan. 2025 The character of Queenie, a riverboat cook, was originally played by a white actor in blackface. —

Jesse Green, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025 Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres has issued an apology for wearing blackface in a comedy sketch 17 years ago. —

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY, 5 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for blackface