The History of Minstrelsy. A Short Overview

Essay , 2018 , 9 Pages , Grade: A

Musicology - Historical musicology

This essay gives a short overview about the history of minstrelsy from different perspectives.

Minstrel shows were a form of an entertainment show that appeared in America around the 1820’s, which was centered on the stereotype of African American slaves with themes from slavery and plantation life. After their first appearance, Minstrel shows became very popular very fast and soon they became a phenomenon that spread throughout America.

The origins of Minstrelsy are traced back to the creation of a character named "Jim Crow", a plantation worker dressed in rugs and who had a limp, dancing and singing in the street in a funny way.

The History of Minstrelsy: White and Black Perspectives

E. Agathokleous 2018

Minstrel shows were a form of an entertainment show that appeared in America around the 1820’s, which was centered on the stereotype of African American slaves with themes from slavery and plantation life (Wellman, 1). After their first appearance, Minstrel shows became very popular very fast and soon they became a phenomenon that spread throughout America (Bloomquist, 2). The origins of Minstrelsy are traced back to the creation of a character named “Jim Crow”, a plantation worker dressed in rugs and who had a limp, dancing and singing in the street in a funny way (Wellman, 5). According to Toll, Thomas Rice a blackface performer, witnessed the man dancing and memorized his song which he found hilarious (2) and then performed it in Ohio and later in New York becoming an instant hit (Rosenberg, 56). The formation of a touring group of Minstrel actors however was what led to the rapid expansion of Minstrelsy as a highly popular form of entertainment, establishing longer performances with a wider variety of acts (Wellman, 4). Men performing in blackface were known as Ethiopian delineators and four of them were responsible for the creation of the first touring Minstrel group that was called “The Virginia Minstrels”, a group that met with huge success and was soon an example for the formation of numerous other Minstrel groups (Toll, 3). For a number of years minstrels prevailed as the most popular form of entertainment with no real competition until the early 1870’s when big variety shows and musical comedies emerged (Toll, 5).

Following the example of Thomas Rice, many blackface performers resolved to the studying of Black people, watching them dance and sing and studying their habits in order to perform in a more convincing and original way (Toll, 2). The cast of the Minstrel show consisted of White men who painted their faces black and performed, in exaggerated costumes, what they supported were black songs, dances and jokes to entertain their white audiences (Toll, 1). These performers, impersonated Black people with burnt-cork make up on their faces, portraying them as jolly, happy people that preferred to sing and dance rather than work and were not particularly the thinking type of people (Toll, 1). The Minstrel variety usually included banjoists and men with performing dogs or monkeys at most frequently a plantation scene with all its characteristics like cotton balls, the master’s house and a steamboat (Toll, 3). The Minstrel show was mainly themed around plantation life and the lives of slaves portraying it however in a comedic style and also implementing much dialogue (Wellman, 6). The Minstrel was a distinct show; both in performance and principles, but also in the literary devices used and of course for its unique music (Rosenberg, 58). In the process the Minstrel show acquired a rather standard form which was consisted of a two part show, both parts including a series of burlesque lectures, riddles, scenes with horses or other animals and comic songs, all of which attempted a reproduction of black culture (Lott, 28). Later, an interlocutor to whom the jokes were addressed was added in the show often delivering a longer kind of speech written and performed in bad syntax and confusing language (Lott, 28 & Rosenberg, 72).

In the passing of time, the first part of the Minstrel show came to be focused on a certain figure known as “the northern dandy Negro” while the second part dealt with plantation “darkies” (Miller, 4). The theatrical Black dandy was based on an actual figure; that was, the figure of Black men dressed in fancier clothes, more refined and dignified and behaving more appropriately, who appeared in the American society, especially after the end of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery (Miller, 4). These figures were carried on to the stage of Minstrel shows by various well known performers of the time, targeting the elimination of any societal threat in class related racial classifications of the time that were posed by such men (Miller, 4, 1). Dixon, the most well known blackface performer owes much of his popularity to “My Long Tail Blue” a blackface song featuring the character of a Black dandy flirting with women and challenging authority (Miller, 5). The figure of the Black dandy was depicted in a demonizing fashion, appearing with curled moustaches and horns, with squinting shifty eyes, appearing this way like a demon like figure (Miller, 7). The character of “Jim Crow”, named in “My Long Tail Blue” was the most famous character in early Minstrelsy and provoked responses by other performers (Miller 9). Rice, another well known performer of the time had a major success in performing “Jim Crow” in various versions (Miller, 10). In the evolution of these characters, Dixon went on to compose “Zip Coon” a song competing “Jim Crow” in popularity, featuring however a protagonist even more unethical and even more ridiculous, with a much larger distortion of blackness in the complete lack of dignity of the character (Miller, 12). After “Zip Coon” the Black dandy figure became a corner stone of Minstrel shows (Miller, 15).

The major success of Minstrel shows is attributed to factors such as the exaggeration in performances, the peculiar outfits and the lampoon theatrical style that drew the audiences to the shows in the first place (Wellman,5). In addition it was a form of cheap entertainment that appealed to the masses of the working class in a time that there was not yet a strong feeling of American solidarity in a cultural sense (Rosenberg, 58). In the American society of the time, both upper class New Yorkers and plantation slaves were estranged figures to working class people (Rosenberg, 70). One of the major factors that contributed in Minstrel show’s success was that the Minstrel mocked both the higher white class and the lower black class comparing to the audience thus providing the white working class audience with a sense of solidarity and fortification (Rosenberg, 60). The Minstrel despite having black protagonists also asserted white dominance over black culture, by having white men impersonate blacks thus keeping them in a lower place than the audience by not allowing them to participate (Wellman, 6).

Participation of black actors in Minstrel shows happened after the Civil war, when Black performers made an opening in the Minstrel shows, selling themselves to audiences as purely Black entertainers who were ex-slaves to win over audiences (Toll, 7). This was the break of black people into the show business, their chance of getting paid even though they were stuck on stereotyped roles (Toll, 7). A downside of the participation of Black people in Minstrels was that it made the humiliation of Black people even more persuasive because it added more credibility to the characters (Bloomquist, 6). However, despite of how degrading their roles were, black actors managed to claim the characterizations of witty and insightful in how well they managed to surpass whites and emerge as the heroes of the show, promoting black pride in any way possible, despite the limitations posted by their roles (Bloomquist, 8). Blacks also participated in the shows as composers but these composers were harshly criticized for this participation and were rejected by their peers and by critical reviews (Bloomquist, 7). In another perspective black Minstrel actors were satirizing the stereotypes created by these shows in a way of liberating themselves (Wellman, 8) a technique that applies even to today’s comedies featuring Black actors and a technique used by many Black comedians. By performing themselves as these caricatures they established that what was communicated through the show was indeed a parody and not reality, and they also added humanity to their characters while at the same time they communicated on some level, with their fellow Black people (Wellman, 8).

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• Grade: A
• Author: Elena Agathokleous (Author)
• Publication Year: 2018
• Pages: 9
• Catalog Number: V1007715
• ISBN (eBook): 9783346404787
• Language: English
• Tags: history, minstrelsy, short, overview