Crabtree Falls

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Minstrel Shows

The Dothan Eagle
1917

The Wiregrass Farmer
1923

The Wiregrass Farmer
1931

The Wiregrass Farmer
1931

The Wiregrass Farmer
1933

The Abbeville Herald
1935

The Abbeville Herald
1939

The Dothan Eagle
1949

The Dothan Eagle
1949

The Wiregrass Farmer
1950

The Wiregrass Farmer
1950

The Dothan Eagle
1953

The Dothan Eagle
1954

The Dothan Eagle
1954

The Wiregrass Farmer
1957

The Wiregrass Farmer
1962

And below are clips from longer articles.


The Dothan Eagle
1923

The Wiregrass Farmer
1929

Alabama Journal
1953

The Montgomery Advertiser
1953

You might think that blackface and minstrels were only going on in the South.  Not the case.  Far from it.  In fact, through my research on newspapers dot com, I've found that even states that we think of as more progressive (say, California) were very much into it.  Also, other states in the West and Northwest - ones with very few blacks - have a significant track record.  And then there's Canada.  Check this out:  History of Blackface in Quebec.  Click here to learn more about the history of blackface.  And for added complexity, there are lots of examples of blacks performing in blackface.  See this.

Judy Garland

British Broadcasting Corporation

Cotton Watts

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