Why Judy Garland's Blackface Photo Resurfaced Decades Later

A photo of Judy Garland in blackface has resurfaced on social media, with fans jumping to defend the late child star.

The image is a still from the movie Everybody Sing from 1938, and shows a teenage Garland painted to have darker skin, large white lips and dreadlocks. Garland played Judy Bellaire in the musical comedy, who joins a music show as a blackface singer to escape her dysfunctional family.

Although the film was released 85 years ago, many people learned of its existence for the first time after the still was shared by X user @browardbully on August 16. Pairing the image with a shot of Garland in the film musical The Wizard of Oz from the following year, @browardbully wrote: "two movies. a year apart. same b****. shoutout to Gen Z for teaching me this."

The post received over 36 million views and caused uproar online, but not due to the blackface. Fans leaped to the actor's defense, calling attention to Garland's infamous abuse at the hands of her parents and studio executives.

"She was a child forced to do this," posted X user Queen Minaj. "It wasn't 2023."

"You think she had any say as a minor or a woman back in the 30s? You think the abusive management she had and her parents would allow her to refuse the role?" wrote Alex Silva.

"A walk in her shoes might bring about some empathy," commented KJ-isms.

"Cancel someone who did it as an adult and is still living," wrote Hozonkai. "Not a former child actress who died 54 years ago."

"Pleeeeeease take time to understand not only what Hollywood was like but especially what Judy went through," added Yuh.

Born Frances Ethel Gumm in 1922, Garland first performed on stage at 2 years old and quickly became a musical sensation. She was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935, and starred in her best-known movie, The Wizard of Oz (1939), while under contract with the studio.

However, Garland's tragic early life is well documented. Her parents moved from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to Lancaster, California, when Garland was 4 years old, with her vaudeville actress mother determined to make her three daughters into stars.

From the age of 10, Garland was fed amphetamines in the morning and sleeping pills at bedtime, and from the moment she joined MGM, her diet was constantly watched.

During her seven years with the studio, the child star worked a grueling schedule, including three hours of schooling, followed by singing practice and a full day of filming. By aged 15, Garland was addicted to pills, and while filming the Wizard of Oz, is said to have subsisted on a diet of black coffee, chicken soup and up to 80 cigarettes a day to ensure she was as slim as possible.

Her rough schedule was purportedly accompanied by sexual harassment. Gerald Clarke—author of Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland—says that the actor was groped by producer and studio head Louis B. Mayer, while her ex-husband Sidney Luft said the star was harassed by the actors playing munchkins on The Wizard of Oz set.

As an adult, Garland's career was tumultuous, with several dips alongside the roaring heights. She also battled addiction and financial troubles, passing away in 1969 from a barbiturate overdose. She was just 47.

In response to @browardbully's tweet, several users highlighted Garland's work with the civil-rights movement in the 1960s.

"I'm not 'defending' blackface whatsoever, but judy garland had absolutely NO SAY in doing that (her whole career she was forced into a lot of things) she was actually a BIG SUPPORTER of the civil rights movement," wrote the X user am annette.

"She's done more for the civil rights movement than most of us," posted that one duck guy.

"Can I ask what conversation you are trying to have?" wrote X user Myth. "If you understand that Judy was forced into these roles as a child, and know that as an actual adult she was an activist for the black community then what is the point of framing her as the problem here?"