Post Civil War Minstrelsy

 

By this time, people began seeing African Americans in minstrel shows. They were still under the white owners and managers. The African American minstrels mimiced themselves and were known as the "Blackface" Minstels. The stereotypes of the African Americans were so set that they could not be broken. Since the whites saw the African Americans in minstrel shows, they thought they were okay with the stereotypes, which lead to these set views of African Americans.

In general, professional Negro minstrel companies did not come into existence until after the Civil War. In the 1840s, performances by Negro dancers, as contrasted by white dancers in blackface, occurred mostly in low-class dives. Life for the black minstrels was miserable and they fought with danger for thier lives, lynching and killing, TX especially.

Overall, minstrelsy created many stereotypes, not all of which depicted the Negro as inferior. Some of these are quite favorable and actually admit Negro superiority in certain areas. For example, the African American was seen as a gifted dancer, and performer. He also had greater emotional warmth and was more religous than the white man. He also can take sorrows and disappointments more easily.

During this era, two main stereotypes endured. First, the character Sambo and the Jim Crow Clown/Zip Coon Dandy.

Zip Coon Dandy/.Jim Crow Clown:

Zip Coon or Dandy	The incompetent free black man. Wears fancy clothes, can't handle money, tries to sound educated but mispronounces words and confuses meaning.
Jim Crow or Sambo	Clown- lazy, shiftless, happy go lucky, singing, dancing and grinnning. Example of plantation slaves before the war.

The decline of the minstrel shows began after the Civil War. Before the Civil War, the minstrel troupes were small and they based their shows on the stereotypes of the African American. After the Civil War, the increase in the size of the minstrel troupes led to the end of minstrel companies. The managers were unable to keep up with the increasing salary of these larger troupes. The increase in size of the troupes and the immigration of African Americans from the South to the North were the two big reasons for the downfall in the minstrel shows.

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