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Research Project: Minstrel Shows

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MUSI 730  --  04/26/2017  --  Professor Gerber
Minstrel Shows: Racist Caricatures or Cultural Phenomenon?
Rhea Tucker
Summary
          During this research process I investigated the origins, rise, influence and decline of nineteenth-century minstrel shows. Due to the sensitivity of this subject I had to keep an open mind while researching as to not let my biases conflict with facts. Before the emergence of minstrel shows the earliest and most preferred source of entertainment was the theater and, surprisingly, newspapers. It wasn’t until newspapers started taking an informal approach that their popularity amongst readers grew. The rise of minstrel came from the stirrings of unrest amongst the “low brow” crowd and “high brow” crowd and the notion that American theater should be more “American,” patriotic, and representative of the common man rather than traditional European ideals and conventions.
          Similar to later jazz culture, early blackface artists would adapt Afro-American mannerisms and customs such as speech, music, dance and folklore to portray what they thought was the contemporary negro. This was not an accurate depiction of black people but simply a caricature/parody of what they thought blacks acted like. Minstrelsy reflected its time and opened this fantasy world for young white men (and immigrants) who (1) had moved to the city from the Midwest with nothing to their name, (2) were dissatisfied with their home lives, and (3) wanted to see themselves represented in the theater. Not only was minstrelsy popular in the States, but also in high demand overseas in Great Britain, Australia, Austria, India, and South Africa.
          The decline of the minstrel show was brought on by a number of things. Increased cost of productions and lack of funds from small theaters, the passing of prominent minstrel actors, the increasing amount of black men joining minstrel troupes, the formation of “colored minstrels,” changing attitudes toward the black man, and the development of new technological advances. Minstrel died simply because there was no need for its pro-slavery sentiments anymore. With slavery ending almost 5 decades’ prior, the attitudes towards blacks had made a slow but steady progress to acceptance (even though there was a long way to go). Minstrel served its purpose during a time of self-discovery and economic transition and paved the way to future genres such as Vaudeville, variety shows and show boat.
Sources
          I utilized mostly secondary for research which included a book review done by Peter P. Reed on W.T. Lhamon’s T.D. Rice, Jim Crow, American: Selected Songs and Plays and Heather S. Nathans Slavery and Sentiment on the American Stage, discussing and analyzing the origins and history of the minstrel show and its socio-political impact on the past and present and other scholarly text which presented the information in the same manner. One Primary source I used was the Jim Crow Song-Book with a collection of lyrics from classic minstrels and the original score sheet.
 

This page has paths:

  1. Literature Summaries & Research Abstracts Steven Gerber

This page has tags:

  1. Topic: Antecedents Steven Gerber
  2. Topic: Ethnic Caricature Steven Gerber
  3. Topic: Cultural Appropriation Steven Gerber

Contents of this tag:

  1. Participant: Tucker, Rhea