Stereotypes In Minstrel Shows

As far back as history takes us, we have repeatedly seen the suppression of blacks by white Americans. Demonstrated most aggressively during slavery and Post-Antebellum America, whites turned to laws, violence, and physical and mental abuse to keep blacks as the inferior race. One way whites reminded blacks of their incompetence and inferiority was through minstrel shows and their use of blackface. For whites by whites, minstrel shows featuring blackface were used as a source of entertainment for the white community. White men were painting their faces black, their lips big and wide, and imitating the songs, dances, and dialect of blacks. Though serving as a form of entertainment, minstrel shows in reality were “a form of leisure that, in inventing and ridiculing the slow-witted but irrepressible “plantation darky” and the foppish “northers dandy negro” conveniently rationalized racial oppression.” …show more content…
Minstrel shows were described as “a mess of entertainment and politics, love and hate, attraction and repulsion, class and race consciousness, sincere imitation and cruel mockery.” Through blackface, whites not only imitated blacks, but criticized them for their behaviors, further perpetuating negative stereotypes. The increased adoption and popularity of blackface, once used with malicious intent at black culture, resulted in its appropriation, as we have seen through its transition into pop culture. Black culture is the sole of black people. The music, dance, hairstyles, and slang, all rooted in slavery, are the tools blacks used to survive. Unfortunately, Americans have failed to acknowledge the cultural significance behind these facets of black culture and are using them as trendy, urban lifestyle