Erasing The Taboo And Reclaiming Black Face Art

Blackface, a once popular style of entertainment in the days of minstrel and vaudeville shows, featured highly stereotypical and insensitive caricatures of African-Americans. After more than 100 years of proliferation on stage, in advertisements and in various creations of blackface art, it became taboo during the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s.

But what many would call the promotion of racist archetypes has been reclaimed in a more positive light as late, with none other than one of the world’s most influential women—Oprah Winfrey—leading the cause. The powerful media mogul and philanthropist is a highly visible collector herself and vocal supporter of similarly inclined African-Americans collecting blackface artifacts.

It was while watching her television talk show nearly a decade ago that Samuel Johnson, a lifelong Southampton resident and gospel singer at area churches, decided that he, too, would collect blackface art.

“I was looking at Oprah’s show and Oprah said to start collecting,” Mr. Johnson, who reported that his mother, Rachel, was French-Indian and his father, Sammie, was a black man, said during a telephone interview last week. “I said to myself, ‘I’m going to see if I can collect some art and politically incorrect items.’”

Driven by Ms. Winfrey’s words, Mr. Johnson quickly amassed blackface memorabilia from slavery times to the present day. He said that it’s his belief that what was once considered offensive should now be viewed as art. And it shouldn’t be hidden away.

Dozens of the artifacts that he has collected are now being exhibited at Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton in “Black Face Art: The Personal Historic Collection of Samuel Johnson.” The display will be on view during the month of February in celebration of Black History Month.

“What you see at the exhibit is only a little taste of what I have,” he said. “I have been diligent at my craft. I have pictures, books, a lot more art.”

In order to grow his collection, Mr. Johnson said that he has purchased many items right here on the East End, as well as during his travels. He is also the grateful recipient of a large number of blackface art items as gifts from friends, he said.

“I had someone get in touch with me not too long ago who said ‘This has been under my desk for years and I didn’t know what to do with it. Now I know that you collect it, I’m going to give it to you’” Mr. Johnson reported, his voice breaking slightly as he expressed his gratitude.

The first piece Mr. Johnson ever bought, back in 2004, was from an antiques store in Amagansett, he recalled.

“It cost $35 and it was a man on a fence eating a watermelon. The watermelon was bigger than him,” he said. “That’s what Oprah was talking about so that’s what I bought.”

There are plenty of favorites in his collection, Mr. Johnson said, including a drawing given to him by Southampton-based artist Gary Simmons. The drawing, a caricature of a black person, has the artist’s trademark smudge, Mr. Johnson said of Mr. Simmons’s erasure technique that mimics smudged chalk. He added that another famous East Ender, Russell Simmons, who is not related to the artist, is also a collector.

Mr. Johnson’s favorite piece on view at Rogers is a controversial one.

“The one that I really, really like the most is called the ‘Jolly Nigger Bank.’ It’s a mechanical coin bank. He has a top hat and he has big eyes and he’s very black. He’s tar black,” Mr. Johnson said, adding that one of the reasons he likes the piece so much is because it was a gift, and also because it is still functional. “You put a quarter in his hand and he’ll eat it,” he said.

A few other standout items are the “Darkie Toothpaste” and the soap, Mr. Johnson said.

“The Darkie Toothpaste says it turns your teeth white. The soap, oh golly gee, it turns your hands white,” he laughed.

Mr. Johnson’s blackface art collection runs the gamut from “Aunt Jemima”-type salt-and-pepper-shaker sets to a “Little Black Sambo” doll to an early edition of the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and an Al Jolsen record, “Tomorrow is Another Day.” But there are some things that he’s just not interested in collecting, he said.

“I went to a store in Hampton Bays once and a lady there says ‘I have something for you,’” he recalled. “She handed me a box and I opened it up and it was a noose. I said I wasn’t ready for that.”

Mr. Johnson, who also collects African art and black art—just about anything that has to do with being part of his African-American heritage—said that he knows not everybody goes for blackface art, and that’s okay. He reported that his own sister, Pati Johnson, with whom he shares a house in Southampton Village, is not all that fond of his collection.

“She told me I had to keep it in my room,” he said. “I understand that she doesn’t like it but it’s a part of me. It’s art, important art and history, to me.”

“Black Face Art: The Personal Historic Collection of Samuel Johnson” is now on view at Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton. Mr. Johnson will give a talk about his collection on Wednesday, February 13, at the library from 2 to 4 p.m.