Spotlight Presentation: The Minstrel Show Part I: Whites in Blackface

Minstrel Shows were the first mass entertainment in America. Originating in the age of Jacksonian populism, they spread an appreciation for racialized music, dance, and humor across this country – and Canada and England, too. Minstrelsy presumed and underscored the white supremacist attitudes that so divided the United States in the years before and after the Civil War.

In this first part of a two-part Spotlight Special, we’ll look and listen to the early days of minstrelsy, before Emancipation, when it was performed entirely by white men in blackface. This was the time when the format and style of the minstrel show took shape, and when the perennial stock characters, like Jim Crow emerged. Stephen Foster would become a star. Emancipation marked the beginning of their long decline, as blacks not only got into the act but took it over and transformed it.

[Parts 1 and 2 of this Spotlight Presentation are self-contained and can be taken independently]

Presenter: Rick Hendra

Biography: I’ve spent the past 5 years in an extended research project tracing the evolution of American popular music in all its genres, sub-genres, and regional variations going back to minstrel days. I’ve shared what I’ve learned first as a DJ at community radio WCUW, then as a Zoom documentarian with the Worcester Hot Club, and now as an instructor with WISE. I’ve previously taught WISE courses on blues music, gospel, and the female vocal groups. I also stock the Virtual Jukebox in the WISE Guide & Bulletin.