Behind the legacy of America’s blackface

Barrett Holmes Pitner, a 2004 Furman graduate and a writer, journalist and filmmaker based in Washington, D.C., writes a piece for BBC News about the history of blackface in the United States and why so many “prominent Americans are unaware of or indifferent to the harm it causes.”

Pitner is a native of the Atlanta area and graduated from Furman with a degree in political science. He has been a contributing columnist for The Daily Beast, The BBC, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and other publications. He has also appeared on political news shows, including Hardball with Chris Matthews, Morning Joe on MSNBC, and The Diane Rehm Show on NPR.