US History

The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Arts

African Americans

This collection uses primary sources to explore blackface minstrelsy in modern America.

An excerpt from Thomas Nelson Page’s *The Negro: A Southerner’s Problem*, published in 1904, which discusses the “race problem” in the South.

Southern author Thomas Nelson Page’s book discusses his perspective on the race problem in the South after slavery. 

A poster advertising Neil O'Brien and the Great American Super-Minstrels, 1895. 

This poster advertises a minstrel show created by Neil O’Brien, a popular blackface actor. The image shows a man in blackface with a giant rooster in the background, perpetuating stereotypes of African Americans’ relationship to chicken. 

A pamphlet announcing a performance of the Original New Orleans Minstrels, 1876.

This four-page pamphlet announces an upcoming show by the Original New Orleans Minstrels to be held January 6, 1876. The show announcement is accompanied by images of happy African Americans on plantations. 

A photograph of a blackface acting troupe in Texas, 1911-1915.

This photograph shows an acting troupe, all men, in blackface. One of them, in the back row, is dressed as a woman, with a blouse and a feathered hat. 

An excerpt from *The Complete Minstrel Guide*, published in 1901.

This guidebook, “containing gags, jokes, parodies, speeches, farces, and full directions for a complete minstrel show,” taught performers how to create a successful minstrel show. 

A collection of minstrel shows excerpted from *The Darkey Drama: A Collection of Approved Ethiopian Acts, Scenes, Interludes, Etc.*, 1867.

This collection of successfully executed minstrel shows, curated by Henry L. Williams, Jr., shares the minstrel shows that were the most popular. 

The sheet music of “Oh Susanna,” as sung by The Ethiopian Serenaders, 1863-1872.

The minstrel song “Oh Susanna” became a popular American song. 

A stereographic photograph of minstrels singing “Oh Susanna,” 1900.

This photograph shows two minstrels singing the popular minstrel song “Oh Susanna.”

An audio recording of The Peerless Minstrels, 1910.

This recording, a combination of music, singing, and acting, presents The Peerless Quartette and Co. performing a minstrel show.

A photograph of the African American minstrel actor Bert Williams, 1911.

This photograph shows the famous African American minstrel actor Bert Williams. 

A publicity portrait of Bert Williams in blackface, 1900-1910.

This image shows the famous African American minstrel actor Bert Williams dressed in formal minstrel-show attire and wearing blackface. 

A recording of “Nobody Abyssinia” by Bert Williams, 1906. 

This recording presents the famous African American minstrel actor Bert Williams singing the “coon song,” “Nobody Abyssinia.” So-called “coon songs” were a kind of music that included stereotypical images of African Americans. They were particularly popular at the turn of the twentieth century but have been existence since the antebellum period.

Sheet music for “Miss Brown's Cake Walk” by Bert Williams, 1896.

The song “Miss Brown's Cake Walk” was composed by the famous African American minstrel actor Bert Williams. 

A letter from J. F. Nickens to W. E. B. Du Bois requesting his opinion of minstrel shows in schools, 1952.

This handwritten letter from J. F. Nickens asks the famous African American scholar W. E. B. Du Bois to give his opinion on the controversy regarding minstrel shows in schools.

Transcription:

714 Spadina ave<br/>
February 16, 52
 
Dear Dr. Du Bois,
 
Will you please help a fellow out of difficulties? I’ve been asked to speak on “Why Minstrel Show’s should not be given.
The subject is causing a great amount of ill feelings, if you would please be kind enough some reason you could think the same should be out of school shall be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for any consideration given this request.
 
Yours truly,
 
J.F. Nickens 


A draft eulogy written by W. E. B. Du Bois about Bert Williams, 1922.

In this short draft of an eulogy of Bert Williams, written by the famous African American scholar W. E. B. Du Bois, Du Bois praises Williams for beings “a great comedian, a great Negro, a great man.”

Questions

1. Using the [collection of minstrel shows excerpted from *The Darkey Drama*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1427), the [poster advertising Neil O'Brien and the Great American Super-Minstrels](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1423), and the [audio recording of The Peerless Minstrels](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1430), describe some of the ways African Americans were represented in blackface minstrel shows. What stereotypes do you see in these performances?
2. One of Du Bois’s most famous quotations about the experience of African Americans in the United States, from his book *The Souls of Black Folk*, states, “One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” Review the [photograph of Bert Williams](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1431), the [publicity portrait of Bert Williams](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1432), and the [draft eulogy written by W. E. B. Du Bois](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1436). Analyze the relationship between the images and Du Bois’s quotation from *The Souls of Black Folk*. Which image represents what it meant to be an “American” during that era? Which one represents what it meant to be a “Negro” during that era? How do the images reflect the “two warring ideals” Du Bois speaks of? How does the eulogy comment on the double consciousness Williams dealt with? 
3. Read pages 7-10 of the [excerpt from Thomas Nelson Page’s *The Negro: A Southerner’s Problem*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1422). What does this text reveal about the tension between white Northerners and white Southerners after the Civil War? Why does Page believe that the white Southerners understood African Americans best? According to Page, why do Northerners not trust Southerners? What do you think about the argument Page makes regarding “respectable” African Americans and those who are not “respectable”? 
4. How does the cover of the [sheet music](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1434) for “Miss Brown's Cake Walk” subvert common perceptions of blackness perpetuated in blackface minstrel shows? 
5. In the [excerpt from *The Complete Minstrel Guide*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1426), William Courtright states on page 3, "I therefore know the weight of every line and its effect.” What does Courtright mean? How can this statement also apply to the impact his work had on race relations in the United States?

Activity

1. Ask students to use the [collection of minstrel shows excerpted from *The Darkey Drama*](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1427), the [sheet music](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1428) of “Oh Susanna,” the [audio recording of The Peerless Minstrels](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1430), and the [sheet music](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1434) for “Miss Brown's Cake Walk” to identify the key elements of minstrel shows, including mood or tone, topics addressed, personalities of characters, and common settings. After students have identified the key elements, ask them to discuss how the mood and tone of the minstrel shows conflict with the mood of the United States with regard to race relations during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 
2. Spike Lee’s film *Bamboozled* addresses black racial identity in the year 2000 through the metaphor of blackface minstrelsy. Ask students to analyze the documents in this primary source set in relation to the film. Using the [photograph of Bert Williams](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1431), the [publicity portrait of Bert Williams](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1432), the [recording](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1433) of “Nobody Abyssinia,” the [sheet music](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1434) for “Miss Brown's Cake Walk”, and the [draft eulogy written by W. E. B. Du Bois](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1436), students can compare and contrast the experience of Bert Williams and the experiences of two characters in Spike Lee’s film, “Mantan” and “Sleep’n Eat.”
3. Ask students to practice visual literacy by analyzing the [photograph of Bert Williams](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1431) and the [publicity portrait of Bert Williams](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1432). Students should describe his body language in both images. What message does it convey and how does it set the mood of each image? Students should then analyze Bert Williams’s gaze in each image. Finally, ask students to compare and contrast similar elements—the cigarette and the shadow. How do body language, gaze, and other aspects of the pictures affect the way the viewer interprets/understands each image? 
4. Use sources from this set to complement a lesson on the development of African American music. The abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote that slave songs “told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery.” The same “woe” and “anguish” evident in slave songs marks other African American genres like the blues. Ask students to analyze the [recording](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/blackface-minstrelsy-in-modern-america/sources/1433) of “Nobody Abyssinia,” alongside Langston Hughes’s poem “The Weary Blues,” and to identify the ways in which these resources align with what Douglass says about slave songs. How did these artists use their work as a coping mechanism, a tool for advocacy, and/or an expression of their cultural experiences? A follow-up activity may ask students to reflect on the role of music in their lives and how it may serve similar purposes. 


Teaching Guide: Exploring Blackface Minstrelsy in Modern America

Resources

1. [History of Minstrelsy](http://exhibits.lib.usf.edu/exhibits/show/minstrelsy/jimcrow-to-jolson/blackface): From “Jump Jim Crow” to “The Jazz Singer,” University of South Florida Libraries. 
2. [The History of the Banjo and Black Face Minstrelsy](https://music.si.edu/video/history-banjo-and-black-face-minstrelsy), Smithsonian Music. 
3. [Minstrelsy and the Construction of Race in America](http://library.brown.edu/cds/sheetmusic/afam/minstrelsy.html), African American Sheet Music, Brown University. 


Overview

Blackface minstrelsy was a popular nineteenth-to-early-twentieth-century American musical and theatrical art form. Although the genre began during slavery, the primary sources in this set reflect blackface minstrelsy after the American Civil War. During this era the South was at its most vulnerable point. African Americans were trying to make sense of their new found freedom and the racial violence inflicted upon them, while white Southerners were dealing with living in a newly integrated society and the financial burden of redeveloping the South’s economy without slave labor. Many white Southerners were nostalgic for the “good old days,” and used various forms of artistic expression to convey their dissatisfaction with their new way of life. 

Nineteenth-century writers such as Joel Chandler Harris and Thomas Nelson Page developed the Plantation Tradition, a genre of writing that glamorized the relationship between whites and blacks during slavery, and represented African Americans in demeaning ways. This genre emphasized the inability of African Americans to use their freedom “responsibly.” A similar aesthetic was adopted in the musical-theater industry through the minstrel-show genre. Minstrel shows were elaborate musical and sketch performances that consisted of white actors dressed in “blackface,” who would use comedy and music to imitate and mock African American vernacular and experiences—both on the plantation and in post-emancipation society. African American actors also performed in minstrel shows, sometimes wearing blackface. Bert Williams became the most famous African American minstrel artist, and his controversial career is a reflection of the complexities of the African American experience during this era. 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, blackface minstrelsy had lost its momentum, but its impact could be seen globally. As historian and scholar Eric Lott suggests, blackface minstrelsy “rationalized racial oppression.” The most powerful aspect of the genre was its ability to shape the way the world viewed African Americans. Stereotypes of African Americans as lazy, ignorant, and dependent on white Americans were perpetuated through blackface minstrelsy and are still the root of much racial violence and inequality in the twenty-first century. 

English

Blackface Minstrelsy in Modern America

blackface-minstrelsy_02_6b319b219a0d09312025c5ada0bc4321.jpg

Courtesy of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections via Recollection Wisconsin.

“Neil O'Brien and the Great American Super-Minstrels,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/6b319b219a0d09312025c5ada0bc4321.

A poster advertising Neil O'Brien and the Great American Super-Minstrels, 1895.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 2 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Blackface Minstrelsy in Modern America