Blackface Disguise at the Court of Queen Henrietta Maria, 1625-1649 (EUC Fall Brown Bag Lecture Series)

Queen Henrietta Maria

By Irati Hurtado Ruiz, EUC Research Assistant and Spanish & Portuguese PhD Student

In our first Brown Bag lecture of the semester, Andrea Stevens, Associate Professor of English, Theatre, and Medieval Studies, discussed her current book-in-progress. Prof. Stevens started her talk by highlighting the lack of black characters in English drama after Othello. These black African characters were replaced by ‘maid-as-moor’ characters by the time of the Caroline court (under the patronage of Queen Henrietta Maria). The "maid-as-moor" is a female character who temporarily disguises herself as a black African. 

An examination of several plays from that period shows that, in all plays, these female characters feature a striking transformation whereby their ‘true’ white identity is revealed. These transformations, which usually involve the removal of makeup, are very theatrically vibrant moments on stage. According to Prof. Stevens, this black disguise has multiple ends. For instance, it can help preserve chastity when threatened with assault or spy upon a lover or unfaithful husband. 

But this blackness, however, is not "progressive," Prof. Stevens claimed. Instead, it is used to shore up whiteness. That is, blackness signifies a firm hue that cannot be changed by other colors, whereas whiteness can be changed. "Maid-as-moor" characters in these plays are thus a symbol of the distinction between the noble and the common, between the white and the black. Prof. Stevens concluded her talk by showing other contemporary examples of blackface in the fashion industry, such as French Vogue's October 2009 photo shoot.