The Language of Blackness: Representations of Africans and African-Americans on the British Stage After Uncle Tom’s Cabin

This chapter examines representations of blackness on the Victorian stage that follow the publication (and adaptation for the stage) of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), focusing on the legacy of the ‘minstrelised’ stereotype promoted by blackface minstrelsy and further popularized by Uncle-Tom images. The connection between black characters and the ‘dialect’ they are made to speak on stage will be especially explored with reference to Lemon and Taylor’s drama Slave Life; or, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) and William Brough’s farce Those Dear Blacks! (1852), as well as theatrical Robinsonades from the second half of the century that reveal an influence of the ‘minstrelised’ stereotype, as well as references to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.