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USA: 'Blackface' Big Minstrel Jubilee poster for Billy Van, New York, 1900

Source: Pictures from History / Getty

It’s that time of the year again!

Halloween is undefeated when it comes to white folks showing their whole caucasian a$$es with their choice of “costume”. Some of the most famous faces in Hollywood have been outed over the years for their wildly offensive take on the racist practice of blackface.

Blackface began back in the 1830s in New York City when the “Father of Minstrelsy” Thomas Dartmouth Rice created the lowly, uneducated, tattered, and unkempt character “Jim Crow”. The character’s name subsequently became the title of the discrimination laws that the United States adopted to oppress Black citizens.

Blackface became so ubiquitous that the United States Library of Congress saved images from that era like the one you see above from actor Billy Van. According to Travelanche, Van began as a Philadelphia-born child performer before moving on to blackface vaudeville shows.

Van became famous by mocking Black folks just like some of the aforementioned Hollywood stars of today. Hell, even current politicians have had their faux-melanated skeletons dragged from the closet for all to see.

https://twitter.com/rick_montoya/status/1705676750477521120?s=61&t=jJl6YnC712ist5w_Sx3Z3g

Flip the page to see more clueless white celebs who thought this type of act was the funniest thing in the word…

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