Haunted City explores the history of racial impersonation in Philadelphia from the late eighteenth century through the present day. The book focuses on select historical moments, such as the advent of the minstrel show and the ban on blackface makeup in the Philadelphia Mummers Parade, when local performances of racial impersonation inflected regional, national, transnational, and global formations of race.
Mummers have long worn blackface makeup during winter holiday celebrations in Europe and North America; in Philadelphia, mummers' blackface persisted from the colonial period...

Haunted City explores the history of racial impersonation in Philadelphia from the late eighteenth century through the present day. The book focuses on select historical moments, such as the advent of the minstrel show and the ban on blackface makeup in the Philadelphia Mummers Parade, when local performances of racial impersonation inflected regional, national, transnational, and global formations of race.

Mummers have long worn blackface makeup during winter holiday celebrations in Europe and North America; in Philadelphia, mummers' blackface persisted from the colonial period...