minstrels

When the Virginia Minstrels started the first minstrel company, they knew what they were portraying was going to be popular. One thing they were not aware of was how it would make future events and future roles of African Americans permanent. The first minstrel show was performed in 1843. It was performed in front of a live audience and was considered structured entertainment. In the minstrel show there were three parts, the first section, the olio, …

…that the performances that were done were specialty acts that people practiced for and signed up for. The last part of the minstrel show was a short skit of some sort. The significance of all of this was that all the performances were done in black face. Black face is when regular white folks put burnt cork on their face to mimic the African slaves. The performances did NOT contain any Africans, everybody was white.