He is the author of several books, most recently "Stokely: A Life." Peniel JosephNortham is the latest high-profile figure to run into trouble over blackface -- the racist mimicking of African-Americans that dates back to the 19th century. Megyn Kelly and NBC News parted ways last year after she defended the right of whites to dress in blackface as having nothing to do with racism. Minstrel shows caricaturized black life in antebellum America, with whites popularizing the myth of happy slaves. Northam's actions as a young man are both reprehensible and understandable given the nation's long-standing and powerful refusal to come to grips with the history of racial slavery and the subsequent 100-year epic of Jim Crow racial segregation.

Source: CNN February 02, 2019 04:41 UTC