Details
Title Mr. T.D. Rice : [graphic] As the original Jim Crow.
Publisher [United States] : [publisher not identified]
Publisher UNITED STATES. 1885
Date [ca. 1885]
Physical Description 1 print : etching mounted on paper; sheet 29 x 20 cm (11.25 x 7.75 in.)
Description Full-length, caricatured portrait depicting T.D. Rice, known as the "father of American minstrelsy." Depicts Rice as his African American racist shyster character of "Jim Crow." He is portrayed with exaggerated features and mannerisms. He stands, attired in torn and worn clothing, in an exaggerated pose with his right hand on his hip as his left hand tips his hat. His attire includes a jacket, vest, collared shirt, pantaloons, stockings, and slip one shoes. He stands in a fenced in pasture with two cabins in the distant background. Blackface minstrelsy is a popular entertainment form, originating in the United States in the mid-19th century and remaining in American life through the 20th century. The form is based around stereotypical and racist portrayals of African Americans, including mocking dialect, parodic lyrics, and the application of Black face paint; all designed to portray African Americans as othered subjects of humor and disrespect. Blackface was a dominant form for theatrical and musical performances for decades, both on stage and in private homes. Jim Crow (mid to late 19th century) was a Minstrel character representing enslaved/rural Black manhood as foolish, lazy, interested in shirking labor.
Notes Title from item.
After the caricature illustration originally created around the 1820s, often reproduced on sheet music covers of the 19th century. See Hugh Honour's The Image of the Black in western art (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), part 2, vol. IV, p. 62-63.
Description of Blackface minstrelsy and minstrel characters from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021.
Purchase 1992.
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject Rice, Tom, 1808-1860.
Actors -- United States.
African Americans -- Performance & portrayals.
Blackface entertainers -- United States.
Crow, Jim (Fictitious character) -- 1880-1890.
Minstrel shows.
Racism in popular culture.
Genre Caricatures -- 1880-1890.
Etchings -- 1880-1890.
Portrait prints -- 1880-1890.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| portrait prints - Rice [P.9369]
Accession number P.9369