Mock Trial & EOTO #2 (Plessy v. Ferguson 1896)

Minstrel Shows

Minstrel Shows, also referred to as "minstrelsy", was an American theatrical art form
that grew traction during the beginning of the19th century and maintained it popularity
until the beginning of the 20th century.  This "art form" took a dark, comedic take on
racial stereotypes.  The earliest minstrel shows were staged by white minstrels
(musicians) that painted their faces black with burnt cork and attempted to act, sing,
and dance while portraying black slaves.  This form of minstrelsy is usually defined as
"blackface minstrelsy".  The famous "Broadway", that most Americans know and love
today got its roots from these horribly racist and insensitive productions.  As minstrel
shows developed and evolved, they soon morphed into burlesque shows, which later
developed into what we now know and love today (loc.gov).

Thomas Dartmouth Rice, known as the father of blackface, was popularly known as "Jim
Crow" (Britannica). Common names for these characters in these minstrel shows were

Brudder Tambo, who plays the tambourine, Brudder Bones, who rattled the clippers

(they were originally made from bones), Jim Crow, Zip Coon, and Dandy Jim (Britannica).

The characters in the show were created to portray African-Americans in a negative light

by making them appear as if they were the social castaways, which I guess at the time

they were but, in retrospect, it was simply public humiliation that black performers were

forced to put up with because there were very limited, if any, jobs for black performers at

the time.  Characters such as Jim Crow were characterized as "uncultured, parochial,

happy-go-lucky southern plantation slaves" that dressed in heavily tattered clothing.

Other characters like Urban Dandy (A.K.A. Zip Coon or Dandy Jim) were characterized as

"slow-talking, mischievous and gaudily overdressed". However, what almost every

character had in common was their dim-wittedness, laziness, and their hankering for

foods like chicken and watermelon (Library of Congress)

Thomas Dartmouth Rice (Father of Blackface)

Often, these shows were comprised of 2 to 3 parts, similarly to most plays and musicals.
Typically, the show would open with a chorus, followed by the entrance of the interlocutor.
The show would include a series of jokes between the interlocutor and the end men that
was interlaced with "ballads, comic songs, and instrumental numbers, more specifically
banjo and violin" (Britannica). The second part was made up of various individual acts
and was usually concluded with a "hoedown or walk-around in which every member did
a specialty number while the others sang and clapped" (Britannica). The occasional
third part consisted of "farce, burlesque, and/or opera" (Britannica).

After asking a group of High Point University students if they had seen any tapings of
minstrel shows, they all responded with some form of "no". The following video is what I
showed them:

Minstrel Show

After watching the video with their jaws dropped, a few of them asked where the videos
were recorded, assuming that this couldn't possibly be from the United States. It was.
As disgusting as these videos are now, they are a part of our country's history of racism
and prejudice towards black Americans and there is nothing we can do to erase them
from our history.