MINSTRELSY

• What was it?• What role did it play in race relations?• How did it change over time?• Why should we study the history of

minstrelsy?

What was minstrelsy?

• Minstrelsy was a form of entertainment that was popular in America from around 1830-1910– Minstrel shows– “black face” performance

• White actors wearing “black face”– Why?

The Show

• Musical numbers, comedy sketches, ‘stand-up’-like routines

• All the characters were negative stereotypes of blacks

• Minstrel shows varied but stock-characters were used throughout the period

The Characters / The Stereotypes

• “Jim Crow”, a dancing, happy slave• “Sambo”, a buffoon (clown, ridiculous)• The ‘slow’ slave, the ‘errant’ slave• The city dandy• And others…• What was the power of these stereotypes?

Minstrelsy and Race Relations

• Minstrel shows grew in popularity as abolition movement grew, as northern blacks gained some affluence and after the Civil War.

• A “psychological attack” – not just innocent humor.

• The images and character-stereotypes persisted even after minstrelsy faded– Sambo’s restaurants– Aunt Jemima

How did minstrelsy change over time?

• After the Civil War, African-American performers began to do minstrel shows, too.– did help to position African-Americans as

legitimate entertainers…– But they were participating in the stereotype

industry

• The content of the shows changed– White performers (in competition now) add other

racial stereotypes (e.g. Chinese)– Black performers add a variety of music, dance

and comedy to their shows that was new and not solely derived from racial stereotypes

• The biggest audience for minstrel shows was working class, white men in the North– Lowest rung in white society

• The popularity of minstrel shows faded by 1900-1910, as vaudeville and the ‘musical’ began to rise– This period was the end of careers…– …and the beginning of careers, too…

James BlandAfrican-American minstrel performer

• Very successful in peak of black minstrel performers… died in 1911, as trend ended

• Born in NYC, free parents, father very highly educated

• On track to follow father, at Howard, drawn instead to music and performance

• Career on the stage and writing music• European tour• Why would a young man with his background

seek to portray black stereotypes?

Pigmeat MarkhamAfrican-American minstrel performer

• Born just as minstrelsy was fading away, yet built a career doing minstrel shows and characters in what became a ‘niche’, but persistent, wing of popular entertainment

• Having started out in the circus as a boy, his career spanned from the Great Depression to the 1970s and he was considered a truly gifted entertainer

• Yet he was criticized by other blacks for continuing to do minstrel shows

Why should we study the history of minstrelsy?

• As an example of the insidiousness of humorous bigotry

• One way white culture reacted to changes in social status of blacks

• To forget or not? To erase or not? • To understand how stereotypes dehumanize• To glimpse the strange choices facing African-

Americans who wanted to be in theater in the ‘Jim Crow’ era after the Civil War

• To know what you are seeing today if you encounter images or characters derived from minstrelsy

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•Black, Ray. "Sambo and Uncle Tom in African-American literature." In Samuels, Wilfred D. Encyclopedia of African-American Literature. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. African-American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE01&iPin=EAFL328&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 20, 2011).

•Kibler, M. Alison, “Minstrel Shows”, St James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, v3, 2000, p.371-372.

•Kranz, Rachel C. "Bland, James." In Kranz, Rachel C., and Philip J. Koslow. The Biographical Dictionary of African Americans. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1999. African-American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE01&iPin=afbio0128&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 20, 2011).

•Rose Blue & Corinne J. Naden. "'The Minstrel Show'." The History of Gospel Music, African-American Achievers. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. African-American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE01&iPin=AAGM06&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 20, 2011).

•Weissman, Dick. "minstrelsy." Blues, American Popular Music. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. African-American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE01&iPin=APMB0283&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 20, 2011).