Blackface Minstrelsy Research Paper

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The Blackface Minstrelsy was one of the main historical events that happened in United States. According to the critic, Gary Giddins, the Blackface Minstrelsy was like the early television, it was the first entertainment formed for everybody in United States. It was the most popular form of entertainment in America in the 1830s to 1840s. The white performers rubbed their face in black with burnt cork. The performers played music, danced, and spoke in the dialect that inspired by the Blacks. However, the Blackface described the Blacks in a negative way; it reflected the racial stereotype at that time. After a while, the Blacks can participate in the show and start to get respect from others. The Blackface Minstrelsy is part of the components that shaped a better society today. The Blackface Minstrelsy plays an important role in entertainment industry. It gives people to experience the African Americans’ feeling and their cultures. In the early time, the performance provides audiences a lot of racist images. After the Blacks began to perform, some…show more content…
At that time, some people did not know much about African American; they thought African American was lower class, slave and foolish. However, the performance alters the perceptions of the audiences. The Blacks started to get respect from others afterwards. “Stephen Foster, who was made famous by early songs in minstrelsy… refused to allow his sheet music to carry pictures that poked fun of blacks.” () Foster empathized with the African American; he used his power to protect the Blacks by the songs his wrote. He hopes people will not digging a deeper hole to the Blacks; he brings the hopes to the Blacks. People starts to admire and respect the African American’ culture after watching the performance. The performance has an immense effect to import the society thought about the African

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