Thomas D. Rice
Thomas Dartmouth Rice (born May 20, 1808 in New York City , † September 16, 1860 ibid) was an American comedian who popularized the blackface in the 1830s as " Jim Crow " .
Life
Thomas Rice appeared as a young actor in the 1820s under the nickname "Daddy" in theaters in New York. In search of new opportunities, Rice worked as a carpenter in Louisville , as a performer for an acting company in Cincinnati, and as a freelance prop master for a dilapidated playhouse in Pittsburgh .
He first costumed himself as a stereotype of an African American on a stage show in Pittsburgh by spreading burnt cork all over his face, wearing tattered clothes, mended shoes and a matted black wig and straw hat , and singing a version of the song Jim Crow , which he sang of one Had heard of slaves in Cincinnati. The white audience responded with great enthusiasm. With this parody, Rice had success and performed with it in Philadelphia, Boston and New York City, among others . By the mid-1830s, Jump Jim Crow had become a hit, and the Jim Crow dance figure created by Rice became the first stereotypical figure in the Minstrel Shows .
literature
- Eric Lott: Love and Theft. Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class . Oxford University Press, New York 1993, ISBN 0-19507832-2 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rice, Thomas D. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rice, Daddy; Rice, TD; Rice, Thomas Dartmouth (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American comedian and the inventor of the blackface |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1808 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 16, 1860 |
| Place of death | New York City |