Minstrelsy--White male performers in blackface, later black performers as well--Draws on romantic notions of slavery--Slaves are happy, loyal, childlike, and dependent on whites--Allegedly based on “authentic” slave performances--Exaggerated physicality--Makeup, dance--Highly stereotyped dialectOrigins--Begins in 1820s--First truly American form of performance--T.D. Rice—father of minstrelsy--1828—“Jump Jim Crow”--Begins as a comic afterpiece to another show, so popular that he uses it more and more often--Virginia Minstrels, Christy Minstrels—1840s--Create entire evening of entertainment--Solidify formal structureMinstrel Shows--Popular all over America, but particularly in the North--Mostly white, working-class male audiences--Music--Banjo, tambourine, percussion (aka “bones”)--Stephen Foster: “Old Folks at Home (Swanee River),” “Camptown Races”--Dance—savage or “cakewalk”Format of a Minstrel show--Variety (many different short, unrelated pieces)--Minstrel Line/Semi-circle (jokes, dance, songs, Interlocutor)--Olio (short comic pieces, often including “stump speech”)--Afterpiece (longer skit—often parody of popular story, e.g. Uncle Tom’s Cabin)Characters:--Interlocutor—straight man, not in blackface--Tambo and Bones—musicians--General stereotypes:--Sambo—happy, lazy, stupid; often musical, laughing, also known as Jim Crow--Zip Coon—Northern free slave, tries to mimic white ways but gets them wrong, often delivers stump speech--Mammy—fat, sexless, looks after white children--Uncle Tom—Older man, loyal to white masters--Frequently accepted as authentic by white audiencesBlack Performers--More prominent post-Civil War--Forced to black up, play derogatory stereotypes--Couldn’t participate in entertainment industry in any other way--Were able to gain fame, money--Bert Williams (1874-1922)--Popular entertainer, famous enough to be able to do some less racist workBlackface outside Minstrel shows--Frequently used for non-white characters through mid-20th century--e.g. Othello in Shakespeare’s Othello--Often used in even relatively sympathetic depictions of black
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