During the 19th century, it became a popular pastime to spend an evening at a minstrel theater. Minstrel entertainment was widespread in the northern cities among immigrants, the unskilled, and it appealed to some in the middle and upper class. ... Minstrelsy first emerged in 1822, by the English actor Charles Mathews, who performed his one-man show "A Trip to America" in blackface. ... Rice and other performers also used this forum to respond to anti-slavery movements with proslavery performances about happy-go-lucky slaves. ... Walter Thompson writes about the many black minstrels of San Francisco in his 1916 article “Among the merry men of minstrelsy“. ... Billy Emerson was one of the few who owned and managed his own theater, which became a popular entertainment spot in San Francisco. ...
Professional minstrelsy declined in the 20th century, but its appeal continued on in the south. Despite its racist stereotypes, some good came out of minstrelsy. It provided a foundation for black performers to learn from and many that emerged after the decline of minstrelsy were able to use the experience they had gained as minstrel entertainers. ... Handy, Bert Williams, Ma Rainey, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jelly Roll Morton were just a few of the performers who started out in minstrelsy. ...
There were three stock characters among several that reappeared in minstrel shows throughout the nineteenth century. ... There are reports that in the early days of minstrelsy minstrels were sometimes mistaken for real blacks(19). So the minstrels in a certain way satisfied the curiosity of the Americans concerning the slaves. ... "From the outset, minstrelsy unequivocally branded Negroes as inferiors."(20) By portraying blacks on the stage either as childlike, stupid, happy and always singing fools, or as good old slaves loving their master and being content with their fate, they kept them at a non-threatening distance. ...
But there is still the question why the minstrels, who portrayed blacks on stage, did not play black music. ... It was popular theatre and had to adapt to the tastes of the audience in order to be successful. ... No whites really cared for the music of the slaves.
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