{"id":105,"date":"2021-05-13T14:51:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T18:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/?page_id=105"},"modified":"2021-05-20T20:03:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T00:03:56","slug":"blackface-costumes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackface Costumes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At a Smith College Halloween party in 2007, a white Smith first year and her white male guest dressed up in Afros and black face-paint to portray Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. While some students felt the &#8220;makeup&#8221; was permissible due to the costume subjects, the vast majority of the student body was appalled, particularly Black students and their allies who felt the administration did not adequately discipline the student.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-105 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8380\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"237\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8380-237x300.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8380-237x300.jpeg 237w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8380-768x971.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8380-810x1024.jpeg 810w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8381\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"132\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8381-132x300.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8381-132x300.jpeg 132w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8381-768x1740.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8381-452x1024.jpeg 452w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8381.jpeg 1433w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 132px) 100vw, 132px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8382\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"243\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8382-300x243.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8382-300x243.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8382-768x623.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8382-1024x831.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8382.jpeg 1835w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-110'>\n\t\t\t\tArticle in The Hampshire Gazette describing the blackface costume incident at a Smith Halloween party that led to a racial reckoning on campus. Sophia Smith Collection, 2007.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Following the incident, students mobilized to push the Smith administration to implement programs and workshops that would lessen the likelihood of something like this happening again. The administration followed its usual protocol of forming a committee, having a campus-wide meeting, and promising to do better moving forward. The student body was far more acrid in its processing of the event. Smith Confessional predecessor &#8220;The Daily Jolt&#8221; and Facebook were both alive with student opinions on either side of the issue, some anonymous and some not. Some students suggested that Black students were taking too much offense at the costumes, while others counted this event among the long list of reasons they disliked white people. During a protest against both the party incident and the overall issue of racism on Smith&#8217;s campus, Black students filled out signs like the ones below enumerating the reasons they belonged at Smith &#8212; regardless of the color of their skin.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-105 gallery-columns-4 gallery-size-medium'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8384\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8384-300x206.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8384-300x206.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8384-768x527.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8384-1024x703.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8385\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"179\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8385-300x179.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8385-300x179.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8385-768x459.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8385-1024x613.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-112'>\n\t\t\t\tPosters from campus protests against anti-Black racism on Smith&#8217;s campus. Sophia Smith Collection, 2007.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8386\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8386-300x199.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8386-300x199.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8386-768x510.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8386-1024x680.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/img_8383\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8383-300x232.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8383-300x232.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8383-768x593.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/663\/2021\/05\/IMG_8383-1024x791.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a Smith College Halloween party in 2007, a white Smith first year and her white male guest dressed up in Afros and black face-paint&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/smith-activism-timeline\/blackface-costumes\/\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Blackface Costumes<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3311,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-105","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105\/revisions\/168"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-lcombest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}