Examining how the heathen Chinee figure alters perceptions of antiblackness in the minstrel form, revealing cultural implications.
Examining the “heathen Chinee” craze prompted by Bret Harte’s poem and its transnationalization uncovers what happened to the minstrel form and the violence of slavery that the figure evokes. As the “heathen Chinee” figure became racialized as distinctly “Oriental,” it obscured the antiblackness of the minstrel form.
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Caroline H. Yang (2026) studied this question.
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