Talking Infrastructure, Education, and Canada and the Blackface Atlantic
Sponsored by Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Recorded on 04/07/2025
Posted in The Authority File
Episode 420
Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Associate Professor in Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, joins the program to discuss her latest book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897. The first in a trilogy, the title investigates the origins of blackface in Canada, tracing the rise of minstrel shows in the 19th century and how they converged with growing infrastructure in railways, theater, and the entertainment industry. In the next four episodes, Cheryl dives into her research and writing process, in addition to her essential work in the archives. She also examines how American enslavement shaped the portrayal of Black people in minstrel shows and the contention between Black choral groups rising in tandem with minstrelsy performances.
In this first episode, Cheryl introduces us to her scholarship and a major through line of her work—how systems of production intersect with gender, race, and power structures. Describing blackface as a “socializing agent” during the 19th century, Cheryl explains how the theater acted not only as a form of entertainment, but a powerful educational tool on US enslavement, westward expansion, and the Jim Crow era. Without a school system or nationwide curriculum in place, minstrel shows taught audiences about these topics—but from an extremely biased point of view that introduced or reinforced existing narratives of Black people in the US North and South. Last, Cheryl connects back to the topic of infrastructure, illustrating how the railroads in Canada were integral to the growth of traveling theater groups.
About the guest:
Dr. Cheryl Thompson
Associate Professor in Performance
Toronto Metropolitan University
Dr. Cheryl Thompson is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Black Expressive Culture and Creativity and an Associate Professor in Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University. Dr. Thompson is Director, Research and Creative Strategy of Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives (MOBA), an Ontario Early Researcher Award, and Social Science Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project. MOBA is reimagining Black archives in Ontario by making Black archival collections accessible and searchable via an open access online platform. She is also director of Black Creative Lab, an incubator for the curation of public exhibits, speaker events, and YouTube content.
She is the author of Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty (2021) and Beauty in a Box (2019). Her next book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897, will be published in April 2025. In 2021, Dr. Thompson was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists for her contributions to Black Canadian studies.
Enjoy the conversation? Listen to the rest of the series:
- Timeline, Conflict, and Jubilee Singers in Canada and the Blackface Atlantic
- Gender, Race, and the Archives of 19th-Century Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
- Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives and Canada as Part of the Atlantic World
Check out our previous series with Wilfrid Laurier University Press:
– Podcasting in Academia
– Exploring Ecologies in Practice and Environmental Humanities
– Outlining the “Big, Big Tent” of Comics Studies
– The Contemporary Leonard Cohen
– Creative Disruption in Scholarship
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