The first entertainment craze in US history

Prelude to Jazz:

Minstrelsy

Old word; new meaning

18th century American version of a “variety act;” entertainment consisting of various unrelated skits, dances, scenes, and musical selections.

The first minstrel troops were white traveling musicians who performed in blackface

A show usually had 3 unrelated acts

Most popular during mid-1800s, but continued until 1950s-60s

What is a Minstrel Show?

America’s Entertainment Craze

Began in 1830s and 40sMost popular form of

entertainment for almost 80 years (Burns)

The beginning of the American songbook: O Susanna, Camp town Races, Dixie, etc.

Stephen Foster wrote many songs for Christy Minstrels (Broadway)

America’s Musical Racism

[Blackface performers are]…the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied them by nature in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens.” – Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)

Stock Characters of Minstrelsy

Jim CrowThe first big minstrel

hit was written down and performed by a white man know as Daddy Rice

He said he named the tune after the black stable hand he saw perform it

“The 2 most popular characters in the world at the present are Queen Victoria and Jim Crow.” – Boston Post, late 1830s

Minstrelsy presented slaves as thankful, happy, and eager to return to their masters

Minstrelsy taught white America that blacks were not to be pitied and existed for their entertainment

The Zip Coon stock character taught whites that blacks could not educate or better themselves, and could never be like whites

Minstrelsy as fuel for discrimination

Minstrelsy Stereotypes1. Jim Crow

Happy-go-lucky slave, eager to entertain

2. Tambo Joyous Musician, often

with a tambourine, ignorant and poorly-spoken

3. Zip CoonA free black attempting

to rise above his station, but without the intelligence to do so

1. MammyMotherly, devoted,

and loving, with a no-nonsense outlook on life; often played by men in drag

2. Ol’ WenchSexually

promiscuous, often light-skinned and played by a teenage boy in drag

Can Music Effect Our Behavior?

Segregation laws in the

southern US came to be

called “Jim Crow” laws.

US Supreme Court

ruling Plessy v.

Ferguson (1896) stated

separate but equal laws

were legal

Jim Crow laws did not

fully disappear until

1965

The Black and

White Minstrel

Show was a big

hit on the BBC

and ran from

1958-1978

Once cancelled,

regional UK tours

continued until

1987 at resorts

theatres and

festivals

Exporting American Hatred and Racism

1. Some say that minstrelsy is still a part of the US entertainment culture, but without the blatant racism and blackface. In other words, some say that although most American’s happily consume black culture as entertainment, (exp. Rap, Jazz, Blues, R & B) most do not have the same level of comfort with black people. Do you agree?

2. Minstrelsy propagated vicious stereotypes of blacks that lasted well into the 20th century (refer to slide #9). Do you feel the media (and Hollywood) still perpetuates these stereotypes?

Small Group Discussion

GQ Interview (2013)

On blacks during Jim Crow era:“…They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’ – not a word!...Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”

Clashing GenerationsPhil Robertson

Ol’ Aunt JemimaTaken from a 1875

minstrel hit called “Old Aunt Jemima” by Billy Kersands

Originally played by a white man in drag

Used the slogan, “I’s in town, honey!” (1893)

Her image was redone in 1989 to reduce racial stereotypes and references to the Mammy minstrel character

From Mammy to Auntie