Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon".[1] By the middle of the century, blackface minstrel shows had become a distinctive American artform, translating formal works such as opera into popular terms for a general audience.[2] Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right.[3] In the United States, blackface declined in popularity beginning in the 1940s and into the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s,[4] and was generally considered highly offensive, disrespectful, and racist by the turn of the 21st century,[5] though the practice (or similar-looking ones) continues in other countries.

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