What's Underneath the Costume (from "Burnt Corks & Cakewalks")

Even though minstrelsy faded as a mainstay of stage entertainment, its legacy of racist caricatures has persisted into the present. Seemingly every Halloween, pictures go viral of white people donning blackface for costumes. In fact, about a third of Americans believe it is always, or at least sometimes, acceptable for a white person to wear blackface for a Halloween costume, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. But even if a white person claims they are darkening their skin “out of respect,” the disturbing history behind the use of blackface is hard to deny. Nathan talks with scholar Eric Lott about the line between racial appropriation, appreciation and mockery.