A Morris dancer who wears blackface has defended the act from claims of racism, believing it’s a ‘disguise’ which predates racial connotations.
John Ellis is part of a group who have performed Border Morris dancing in Hampshire since 1991, a type of Morris dancing which originates from English villages along the Wales-England border and is largely defined by its use of blackface.
Katie Kedward, who has afro-Caribbean heritage, was particularly shocked when she stumbled into the folk tradition during a walking weekend away, and recounted on ITV’s This Morning how she was left uncomfortable by the experience.
Speaking on the show, Katie said: ‘I was on a walking weekend with some friends and we stumbled across the folk gathering which initially I was quite excited about because I don’t often come into contact with English folk culture, so it’s something I wanted to learn more about.
‘But then I noticed some of the dancing groups there had fully blacked-up their faces, which is not something I’ve actually seen in England before.
‘I was initially very surprised and the longer I stayed the more uncomfortable I felt. As someone who has afro-Caribbean heritage, black face has a very specific meaning for people of my community, so it was a very odd experience and it made me feel like I couldn’t fully participate in the event.’
In response, John claimed the origins of Border Morris dancing predated any racial connotations and its association with minstrelsy, a 19th century form of American entertainment which used blackface to mock black people.
‘Back in the 1400s, which is where the earliest recorded events are, in the winter time farm workers would disguise themselves to beg, they couldn’t get anything from the land, they had no other income apart from the wealth of the landowners who used to own the cottages,’ John said.
‘So during the winter they would put rags on their jacket, maybe put bells on, disguise their faces usually from soot from the chimneys and beg, go back home, take it all off, no one was any the wiser, and the next day they went back to work without any trouble.’
This origin for Border Morris dancing, however, has been disputed. More recent sources have found connections of the dance to minstrelsy, with an account from 1957 referring to Border Morris dancing as a n***er dance’.
Asked if he understands that it has upsetting racial connotations, John claims it doesn’t have any connections to minstrelsy despite the evidence.
‘Personally we don’t think it does,’ John said. ‘I think the border Morris tradition in the UK also doesn’t think it does, because it predates any racial connotations, it has no connection with the things it’s being associated with at the moment in terms of Minstrelsy and whatever else.
‘It way predates all that stuff, and it is purely a form of disguise, whatever reason you’re using for it, it’s just a disguise.’
Asked why they can’t simply change the colour of the face, John said: ‘We discuss this a lot and our take on this is it’s integral to our ethos, to what we do and how we look. And if it becomes a real problem in the world at large, we’ll probably just stop.
‘Changing for a different colour or taking it off altogether as I am today, just doesn’t seem to work. We don’t black our faces and wear ordinary clothes, we’re not going out to mock anybody or to be in any way racially abusive, it’s a costume.
‘We put this stuff on or long jackets, and we black our faces as a disguise, we wear crazy sunglasses and silly hats, and when we dance, we dance 30 times a year at festivals, fates and corporate events, and in 28 years we’ve probably had four complaints.’
Defending herself from potential claims she’s just being a ‘snowflake’, Katie said: ‘Maybe because I’m a young woman it can be quite easy to dismiss my experiences as being this snowflake millennial, but another way to look at offence is causing hurt to somebody who has done nothing to you.
‘And whether you find it easy to dismiss my experiences, you should also consider that an elderly lady who has felt racism all through her life will also be feeling the same, as will a young child, so I think we need to think about the broader cultural context that blackface has attached to it regardless of the intention.’
You can catch This Morning weekdays on ITV at 10.30am.
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