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• 1 2021-02-26T11:34:13-08:00 Owning Oneself: Entertainment as Empowering Enterprise 8 plain 2021-03-13T11:00:29-08:00 The relationship between circus owners and Black musicians evolved over time. African American musicians leveraged their sideshow work into a position of power.
  
  
  Lowery’s refusal to equate the sideshow with side work was made possible by the past popularization of Black musicians navigated by entertainers in the early 1880s. Prof. Roy Pope's 1915 correspondence to the Freeman is a perfect example of how integral Black sideshow musicians came to be to the circus. Hagenbeck-Wallace suffered after Lowery's refusal to work for a management that expected him to double his labor, and his decision to stand up - all other bandleaders with him - forced the circus to rethink their perception of Black musicians. (Let's be real here - was the white band in the big top asked to double canvas?)
  
  Wolfscale's large band of 32 musicians with Barnum & Bailey is also a testament to the demand for Black musicians. Wolfscale utilized this demand to create a band able to compete with the bands in the big top, in terms of music playable per the group size.
  
  
  
  
  Wolfscale also had his ear to the ground, listening for what the audience wanted, and responded by playing the "heaviest marches, latest popular music and rags." Black performers understood the importance of branding their show within the entertainment market. Bandleaders would frequently change the name of their company to reflect the audience's desires. As minstrelsy's popularity gave way to more vaudevillian fare, company owners responded in turn. It was a cyclical feedback loop: Black musicians would influence the audience's tastes, which then changed over time, prompting entertainers to re-brand their work.