Dancing in the Dark by Caryl Phillips

Synopsis (from the book cover):

'The funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew.' This is how W.C. Fields described Bert Williams, the highest paid intertainer in America in his heyday and someone who counted the King of England and Buster Keaton among his fans.

Born in the Bahamas, he moved to California with his family. Too poor to attend Standford University, he took to life on the stage with his friend George Walker. Together they played lumber camps and mining towns until they eventually made the agonising decision to 'play the coon'. Off-stage, Williams was a tall, light-skinned man with marked poise and dignity; on-stage he now became a shuffling, inept 'nigger' who wore blackface make-up. As the new century dawned they were headlining on Broadway. But the mask was begining to overwhelm Williams and he sank into bouts of melancholia and heavy drinking, unable to escape the blackface his public demanded.

What the group thought:

The novel is very elegant and compassionately written and every one at the meeting had enjoyed reading the book. We thought that the characters were portrayed very well, and the tragedy of the situation came across through the characters. The lives of the women came across especially well, leaving you feeling sorry for them. There was a discussion on why Williams might have blacked his face and made a parody of his race and we came to the conclusion that for him it was just an act, he was playing out a character. The decision alienated him from family, friends and colleagues.

The book also explores how black people were not accepted at that time and how they were not allowed to integrate with white people and had to have separate areas with in bars and the theatre.

You might also like to check out a little project I am exploring for my book group :-)