Study in Black and White

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Strange Effects and Photographic Pleasures: Race, Science, and Early Photography

2. The Darkey Photographer: Camera Comedy and the Minstrel Stage

3. Look Pleasant, Please! A Social History of the Photographic Smile

4. Writing the Self Through Others: Racial Humor and the Photographic Postcard

5. Revival and Subversion: Snapshot Performances from Kodak to Kara Walker

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

“Ubiquitous and often insidious, racial humor is a pervasive form of American cultural expression. Tanya Sheehan’s insightful and well-researched Study in Black and White: Photography, Race, Humor moves beyond the laughs to examine how humor in the photographic medium has been employed and deployed as an agent, a conduit, and a dog whistle in America’s complex negotiation of race and representation.”

—Adrienne L. Childs, Associate, W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University