This photograph shows performers in blackface putting on a minstrel show as part of the Federal Theater Project in New York. Minstrel shows began in the 1800s and exploited racist and negative stereotypes of Black people for the entertainment of White audiences. Their popularity was waning by the 1930s, but their legacy of racist depictions of Black people had a lasting impact on American media.
The Federal Theater Project ran from 1935 to 1939 as part of the New Deal. Its task was to employ people in the theater business and skilled craftspeople as it entertained Americans throughout the country while they suffered through the Great Depression.
Actors, directors, playwrights, stage and costume designers, vaudeville performers, stage technicians, marionette craftspeople, dancers, and performers of nearly every kind found employment with the Federal Theater Project. Over four years, more than 2,700 stage productions were performed by more than 12,000 theater professionals and seen by an audience of over 30 million people in a majority of cities, towns, and states across America.
The original caption for this photograph reads: “WPA Fed Theatre Project in NY. Variety Unit.” Works Progress Administration. Federal Theatre Project.
