Cheryl Thompson

Cheryl Thompson, “Black Minstrelsy on Canadian Stages: Nostalgia for Plantation Slavery in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.”

The CHA Journal Prize is awarded for an article from the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association that presents rigorous research in an accessible academic form to make a significant contribution to the understanding of history. The winner of the 2021 CHA Journal Prize is Cheryl Thompson, for “Black Minstrelsy on Canadian Stages: Nostalgia for Plantation Slavery in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” With its examination of Black actors performing in minstrel shows, this article provides a new way to think about anti-Black racism and xenophobia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Reviewers and editors commented on the “rich and robust” research with primary sources, and found that it will make an excellent contribution to Black studies, cultural history, and performance histories.