The Dutch Tradition of Black Pete and the Need for a Global Reckoning of Blackface

The ambivalence surrounding Black Pete鈥檚 status in the Netherlands mirrors an international unease about the the function and significance of blackface images and performances globally.

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By Coen Heijes &
Ayanna Thompson

5 MIN READ

Dec 4, 2020

As Black Lives Matter protests and social uprisings spread across U.S. cities in the summer, civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte over an annual tradition that many believe to be racist.

Every Dec. 5, people across the Netherlands paint their faces black and don afro wigs to , the of who helps to deliver presents. The character was based on enslaved Africans.

With conversations about racial justice, systemic racism, and anti-Black prejudice , Jackson took issue with the Dutch leader鈥檚 defense of the Black Pete tradition.

鈥淵our Excellency,鈥� he wrote, 鈥渁s the whole world mourns the brutal murder of George Floyd, followed by the worldwide mass protest demonstrations calling for actions to combat racism, I do not think that it was appropriate for you to explain that you understand better the sufferings of Black people 鈥� and that you do not consider Black Pete as racist.鈥�

As scholars who have , and worldwide, we believe the episode captures the evolving though ambivalent Dutch attitudes to Black Pete, and the need for a larger global reckoning regarding blackface performances in general.

In his letter, Jackson argued that the tradition of Black Pete could not 鈥渂e separated from the very offensive tradition of blackface鈥� and that 鈥渢here are times when it鈥檚 appropriate to be political, but sometimes it鈥檚 more important to be prophetic鈥攖o just do what鈥檚 right.鈥�

Demonstrators at the first Black Lives Matter demonstration in Diemen, The Netherlands, on June 25, 2020. The Kick Out Black Pete campaign has grown in strength in recent years. Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto/Getty Images.

Anti-Black Pete activists waiting for the arrival of Sinterklaas in Nijmegen, on Nov. 16, 2019. Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto/Getty Images.

A Growing Controversy

This year isn鈥檛 the first time that the blackface performance tradition of Black Pete has . In recent years the controversy has received growing attention outside of the Netherlands.

Backlash against the tradition has seen such U.S.-based companies as and no longer allowing the depiction of Black Pete on their sites. In the Netherlands, too, the tide seems to be turning in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. Prime Minister Rutte has indicated that , saying he is aware of the pain these depictions and performances might cause.

Libraries across the Netherlands have silently started that contain illustrations of Black Pete, arguing the tradition is at odds with public decency.

And this year鈥檚 arrival of St. Nicholas by steamboat, traditionally a few weeks before Dec. 5, had him surrounded by so-called Soot Petes instead of Black ones. Rather than a completely blackened face, Soot Petes have a face streaked with lines of chimney ash鈥攕upposedly caused by their climbing through the sooty chimneys to deliver gifts. It is the only variation of Pete that is acceptable to , the Dutch activist organization founded in 2014 to end any racially offensive representation of the character.

In a representative from November, opposition to replacing Black Pete with Soot Pete decreased from 66% to 43%. And only 19% thought that Black Pete would still exist in 10 years鈥� time.

However, this is only part of the story. indicated that a ban on Black Pete should not be a task for the central government, arguing that cultural change happens on its own. And a closer look at the national poll from this year reveals that only 17% consider Black Pete to be a racist phenomenon; instead, they see it as part of their Dutch cultural history.

The of the Catholic St. Nicholas dates back to the Middle Ages, while Black Pete has often been of devilish characters with a mixture of black masks, horns, faces, and clothes who would occasionally accompany a White, gray-haired man bearing gifts. While the tradition of Black Pete may not have been directly related to minstrelsy or slavery, its and in the second half of the 19th century the Dutch character of Black Pete increasingly adopted , which were a popular element of the Dutch theater repertoire at the time.

The increasing support for Soot Pete鈥檚 replacing Black Pete stems, however, not so much from a desire to be anti-racist as with people鈥檚鈥渂eing fed up with the ongoing debate鈥� or 鈥渨anting to restore the peace during a children鈥檚 festivity,鈥� as respondents in the national survey testified. In a final twist, has taken the pressure surrounding the tradition a step further, banning Soot Pete too from its advertising a couple of weeks ago, arguing that the alternative compromise, which is still supported by Kick Out Black Pete, is also based on racial stereotypes.

鈥楽oot Pete鈥� performers use ash to line their face in Zaanstad, The Netherlands, on November 17, 2018. Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto/Getty Images.

A Global Reckoning

The ambivalence surrounding Black Pete鈥檚 status in the Netherlands is not an isolated Dutch issue. Rather, it mirrors an international unease about the function and significance of blackface images and performances globally. Although often addressed as a uniquely American performance tradition and problem, blackface performances were exported globally both through blackface and through .

A was only the second in the country鈥檚 history to feature a Black actor in the lead role鈥攖he first was the American actor Ira Aldridge鈥檚 performance in 1863. The 2018 production was well-received, and the media hailed the introduction of a Black actor and the production鈥檚 focus on racism鈥�. Yet an inspiration for that performance, the 2017 book which criticized Dutch blackface and focused on anti-Black racism, was derided by both left- and right-wing media for exaggerating the problem and being a .

Variations of the debate over blackface in Dutch traditions are playing out across the globe. The use of blackface by has come under scrutiny in recent years. In the United States, television stars including , , and have all apologized for their use of blackface in the 21st century. Meanwhile, earlier this year in Russia a pro-Kremlin television show mocked Barack Obama in a .

As Jesse Jackson warned, Black Pete cannot be understood in isolation from the history of blackface. Nor should Black Pete be addressed as an isolated Dutch problem. If we accept Prime Minister Rutte鈥檚 view that cultural change happens without government intervention, then the conversations about the history, significance and legacy of blackface performances need, we believe, to be more robust, more global and more sustained.

This article was originally published by . It has been published here with permission.

Coen Heijes holds a BA in Theatre Studies, an MA in English Language and Literature, an MA in Cultural Studies (Anthropology), an MA in Shakespeare Studies, and an MA in Shakespeare and Theatre.聽He wrote/edited/participated in books on the abolishment of slavery, multicultural society, stereotyping, cross-cultural communication, and performing early modern drama today and has published in a wide range of journals.

Ayanna Thompson is a Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, and the director of the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies. She is the author of Blackface (Bloomsbury, 2021), Shakespeare in the Theatre: Peter Sellars (Arden Bloomsbury, 2018), Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centred Approach, co-authored with Laura Turchi (Arden Bloomsbury, 2016), Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America (Oxford University Press, 2011), and Performing Race and Torture on the Early Modern Stage.