Blackface Minstrel Shows in the Green Mountains: Kake Walk and the Civil Rights Showdown That Rewrote College History

Join Professor Rhae Lynn Barnes as she explores the often-overlooked legacy of blackface minstrelsy in Vermont and across the United States. Drawing from her award-winning book “Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment,” this lecture will delve into Vermont’s century-old “Kake Walk” tradition, the student activism that helped dismantle it, and the broader cultural history that shaped systemic racism in America. Barnes’s research sheds new light on how amateur theatrical performances became a powerful tool for white supremacy - and the courageous resistance born in Vermont that ultimately shut it down.