when did they end? why?
The show ended at the end of WW2 when african-americans came home in search for equality and hopes to create a positive image of black people and culture
What did they represent?
The Minstrel Show was a show about white working class men dressing up and acting like plantation slaves, singing their songs and dances.
What was the music like?
They sang the slave songs that plantation slaves had sung while they worked.
General Questions:
How deeply rooted into society was this music or person at the time it was created (or when the person was alive and producing?)
The Minstrel Show was famous and worldwide by all sorts of people who were also interested in the culture of the african american plantation slaves, though it was racist.
How important or relevant is this music now in 2009? Who listens to it?
Nowadays, the Minstrel Show isn’t watched by people because the subject isn’t really important nowadays to the majority of people.
Is this music universal in appeal or is it very specific to a particular time, place, and culture, or audience?
The Minstrel Show was mainly for a white audience. It was very popular during the Civil War with because of it’s topic.
Is it easy to hear that this music is directly related to music that came before it, or is it difficult to find a connection to the past?
The Minstrel Show uses slave songs from plantation slaves in the south, and some slave songs originated from african songs so you could say that it was influenced from music before. Some of the songs on the Minstrel Show weren’t originally slave songs, but they were based on the same format as the slave songs so they wouldn’t sound out of place on the show, so those songs are related to the slave songs before that the slaves “composed” before.
Is this music related to or influenced by other art forms, or is it's content related to non-musical things (such as politics, society, race, class)
Yes. The show uses african american culture and their songs and dances. One thing about the show was that they weren’t trying to make fun of humiliate african american culture, though they still did, displaying them as ignorant and dirty, which were dome of the terms used to describe the african americans. Some people think that the white men on the show were people who liked the music, but hated the african americans themselves. The performers on the show were only allowed to be white men, so maybe there was some kind of grudge.
General Statement: The Minstrel Show was a show about african american culture and music performed by white men that was racist and humiliated african americans.
Recordings:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kc4EwD5hoA
