In 1932, the Athletic Association of the Berrysburg High School, Berrysburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, presented a racist, black-face program that they referred to as a “comedy.” It featured several skits, dance specialties and song hits that were performed by ten of the association members in black-face.
A brief notice in the Elizabethville Echo of March 31, 1932 described the event:
BENEFIT SHOW FOR ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
Berrysburg, Pennsylvania — The Berrysburg High School Athletic Association will present a black-face comedy at 7:30 o’clock Thursday and Friday evenings, April 7th and 8th [1932]. Ten of their members will comprise the cast.
“A Divorce Case,” dance specialties and song hits, and “That Famous Chicken Debate” with the the University of Africa vs. the Booker Tea College, will be some of the numbers.
An admission of 15 cents and 25 cents will be charged and proceeds will be used for the Athletic Association of the Vocational School.
The debate skit was actually written as a black-face minstrel play in 1915 and featured two characters arguing whether it was considered a crime for a Black person to steal a chicken.
Not much more is known about the other acts than what is written in the notice. It is also not known who the ten performers were.
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Dat Famous Chicken Debate was written in 1915 by Walter S. Long, an early silent film actor known for playing Gus in black-face makeup in The Birth of a Nation, one of the most racist films ever made.
In Long’s skit, two white actors in black-face debate in stereotypical dialect, whether it should be a crime for a Black person to steal a chicken. Supposedly, the debate was meant to be a parody of on-going issues separating Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois on the future of the African American in the United States, but it ended with a warning that Blacks who don’t respect white man’s laws could end up getting lynched.
A free download is available at the Internet Archive.
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For related articles on this blog, see Black-Face.
News article was obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.