The Color of Shakespeare

It wasn’t long ago that minstrel shows featuring white actors in blackface were all the rage in America. They were hokey, slapdash, and completely offensive — but some of them were…

It wasn’t long ago that minstrel shows featuring white actors in blackface were all the rage in America. They were hokey, slapdash, and completely offensive — but some of them were based on the greatest plays in the English language. Richard Paul examines how Shakespeare’s plays collided with American race politics.