GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's a story that is sparking outrage across the country.
People are calling for Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to resign after a racist photo surfaced that allegedly shows the governor in blackface, while he was in college.
WFMY News 2 met up with people young and old at the International Civil Rights Museum in Downtown Greensboro, to find out more about why blackface is harmful.
And It all goes back to history.
"Portraying blacks as not only having dark skin, exaggerated sized lips, but also portraying them with stereotypical characteristics of being ignorant and lazy. Happy to be slaves.
This was before the civil war ended," said Cassandra Williams, who is the Educational Coordinator at the International Civil Rights Museum.
Williams said for nearly 200-years blackface has been around.
It was originally intended to make black people all seem the same, or marginalize them by making them seem stupid.
The fact that it's still going on today.
"It doesn't surprise me, it disappoints me," said Williams.
Students from local high schools say they think people who use blackface don't know how much hurt they're actually causing.
"I think it is very uneducated, and they don't understand the historical connotation behind it," said Riley Sullivan, an 11th grader at Bishop McGuinness High School.
"I feel like it kind of dehumanizes black people. Like makes them look less than white people," said Kenneth Mcdonald, an 11th grader at Bishop McGuinness High School.
"I think it makes them kind of look more like a character than a person, and it takes the meaning of their life out of it," said Katelyn Meyer, an 11th grader at Bishop McGuinness High School.