What do you think?
Rate this book
Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century America
The most popular entertainment form of the nineteenth century featured white men masquerading as blacks. What does this say about America?
Blacking Up, the most comprehensive history and analysis of the minstrel show that has yet appeared, is the first book to portray minstrelsy as an institution that spoke for and to huge numbers of common Americans. The changes in in the minstrel show's structure and content during its fifty-year heyday provide unique insights into the thoughts, feelings, needs, and desires of the common people who shaped the show in their own image.
Performed by the white man in blackface makeup using what they claimed were Negro dialects, songs, and jokes, the minstrel show literally swept the nation in the 1840s from the White House to the California gold fields, from New Orleans to New England, from riverboats and saloons to 2500-seat theaters. It was the earliest uniquely American popular entertainment form, the first stage in the growth of American show business and the precursor of vaudeville, burlesque, and other entertainment forms.
Such troops as the Christy Minstrels, the Virginia Serenaders, and Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels provided an outlet for and an escape from bewilderment, frustration, and anguish for people living through revolutionary social changes they neither controlled nor understood. The show was a microcosm of American race relations for both blacks and whites. White minstrels portrayed Negroes as happy slaves and ludicrous dandies. When blacks entered show business as minstrels after the Civil War, they had to appear to confirm these stereotypes while at the same time trying to please their sizeable black audiences. The images of Negroes created by minstrels and their latter day successors like "Uncle Remus" and "Amos 'n' Andy" deeply embedded caricatures of blacks into American popular culture.
The minstrels also caricatured the other major social issues of the day — women's suffrage, immigration, Indians, fashions, urbanizations, and morality — always condemning social change and reaffirming traditional values.
Robert Toll presents a comprehensive review of the evolution of the minstrel show, with its cakewalk, endmen, interlocutor, Stephen Foster songs, and familiar tunes like "Dixie." He brings to life the antics of the major performers, including black entertainment pioneers who have been virtually neglected. Informative and entertaining for theater buffs and nostalgia lovers, his extremely perceptive analysis will at the same time be illuminating for those who seek a broader understanding of the social functions of popular culture and for students of American race relations.
Blacking Up, the most comprehensive history and analysis of the minstrel show that has yet appeared, is the first book to portray minstrelsy as an institution that spoke for and to huge numbers of common Americans. The changes in in the minstrel show's structure and content during its fifty-year heyday provide unique insights into the thoughts, feelings, needs, and desires of the common people who shaped the show in their own image.
Performed by the white man in blackface makeup using what they claimed were Negro dialects, songs, and jokes, the minstrel show literally swept the nation in the 1840s from the White House to the California gold fields, from New Orleans to New England, from riverboats and saloons to 2500-seat theaters. It was the earliest uniquely American popular entertainment form, the first stage in the growth of American show business and the precursor of vaudeville, burlesque, and other entertainment forms.
Such troops as the Christy Minstrels, the Virginia Serenaders, and Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels provided an outlet for and an escape from bewilderment, frustration, and anguish for people living through revolutionary social changes they neither controlled nor understood. The show was a microcosm of American race relations for both blacks and whites. White minstrels portrayed Negroes as happy slaves and ludicrous dandies. When blacks entered show business as minstrels after the Civil War, they had to appear to confirm these stereotypes while at the same time trying to please their sizeable black audiences. The images of Negroes created by minstrels and their latter day successors like "Uncle Remus" and "Amos 'n' Andy" deeply embedded caricatures of blacks into American popular culture.
The minstrels also caricatured the other major social issues of the day — women's suffrage, immigration, Indians, fashions, urbanizations, and morality — always condemning social change and reaffirming traditional values.
Robert Toll presents a comprehensive review of the evolution of the minstrel show, with its cakewalk, endmen, interlocutor, Stephen Foster songs, and familiar tunes like "Dixie." He brings to life the antics of the major performers, including black entertainment pioneers who have been virtually neglected. Informative and entertaining for theater buffs and nostalgia lovers, his extremely perceptive analysis will at the same time be illuminating for those who seek a broader understanding of the social functions of popular culture and for students of American race relations.
340 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 1975
2 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 19, 2016
I came across this book when I was researching my family history - in particular the grandfather on my father's side, who died long before I was born. I knew that he had been in the London Metropolitan Police based in Lambeth and not much more. When I discovered that he had been a member of the Police Minstrels before they were disbanded in 1932, a group of police officers who blacked up, wore evening dress, played banjos, told corny jokes etcetera, all in the cause of raising money for 'the police orphanage' (yes, there really was one, in Kingston-upon-Thames), I was quite taken aback, because at the time I was working in the Equalities section of Education Leeds, which was promoting equal opportunities, respect for diversity and opposition to racism. I found out where he was buried in 1934 - a vast necropolis called Nunhead Cemetery, near Peckham where he had lived - and decided to to find out more about minstrel shows in general.
One of the best books I read on the subject was 'Blacking Up', written by a Californian researcher, Robert C Toll, published in 1974. I was surprised by much of what is in it, although I did know a few things before I started, having encountered the dreadful 'Black and White Minstrel Show' on BBC Television (it lasted until 1978), and I had watched 'The Jazz Singer', the sentimental 1927 movie starring a blacked-up Al Jolson. This perceptive book is written from an American point of view, of course, and I found out that the most popular entertainment form of the nineteenth century there featured white men masquerading as blacks. It was popular to some extent in Britain as well, but in a rather different way, it seems, and was considered to be old-fashioned by many even before the nineteenth century had finished. The Police Minstrels apparently saw it as some kind of quaint classic in the early twentieth century, an excuse for singing for charity, though there are ironies as we look back from the late twentieth century, when the Macpherson Report accused the Metropolitan Police of tolerating 'institutional racism' and when too many black American citizens were harassed and shot by the police over there. So what changes?
The book seems balanced, deals with the subject with a certain amount of academic detachment (while remaining accessible) and makes it clear that minstrelsy as an institution spoke for huge numbers of common Americans. The changes in the minstrel show's structure and content during its fifty-year heyday provide unique insights into the thoughts, feelings, needs, and desires of the common people who shaped the show in their own image. Performed by white men in blackface makeup using what they claimed were authentic plantation dialects, songs and jokes, the minstrel show swept through the United States from riverboats to huge city theatres, from marquees to the White House. The author makes it clear that it was the first stage in the growth of American show business, the precursor of vaudeville. African Americans were portrayed as happy slaves and ludicrous dandies, and when (real) blacks entered show business as minstrels after the Civil War, they had to appear to confirm these stereotypes while at the same time trying to please their sizeable black audiences. But minstrels also caricatured the other major social issues of the day - women's suffrage, immigration, Native Americans, fashions, urbanisation - always condemning social change and reaffirming what they regarded as traditional values.
Although it needs an update, Blacking Up is still most illuminating for anyone seeking a broader understanding of the social functions of popular culture.
One of the best books I read on the subject was 'Blacking Up', written by a Californian researcher, Robert C Toll, published in 1974. I was surprised by much of what is in it, although I did know a few things before I started, having encountered the dreadful 'Black and White Minstrel Show' on BBC Television (it lasted until 1978), and I had watched 'The Jazz Singer', the sentimental 1927 movie starring a blacked-up Al Jolson. This perceptive book is written from an American point of view, of course, and I found out that the most popular entertainment form of the nineteenth century there featured white men masquerading as blacks. It was popular to some extent in Britain as well, but in a rather different way, it seems, and was considered to be old-fashioned by many even before the nineteenth century had finished. The Police Minstrels apparently saw it as some kind of quaint classic in the early twentieth century, an excuse for singing for charity, though there are ironies as we look back from the late twentieth century, when the Macpherson Report accused the Metropolitan Police of tolerating 'institutional racism' and when too many black American citizens were harassed and shot by the police over there. So what changes?
The book seems balanced, deals with the subject with a certain amount of academic detachment (while remaining accessible) and makes it clear that minstrelsy as an institution spoke for huge numbers of common Americans. The changes in the minstrel show's structure and content during its fifty-year heyday provide unique insights into the thoughts, feelings, needs, and desires of the common people who shaped the show in their own image. Performed by white men in blackface makeup using what they claimed were authentic plantation dialects, songs and jokes, the minstrel show swept through the United States from riverboats to huge city theatres, from marquees to the White House. The author makes it clear that it was the first stage in the growth of American show business, the precursor of vaudeville. African Americans were portrayed as happy slaves and ludicrous dandies, and when (real) blacks entered show business as minstrels after the Civil War, they had to appear to confirm these stereotypes while at the same time trying to please their sizeable black audiences. But minstrels also caricatured the other major social issues of the day - women's suffrage, immigration, Native Americans, fashions, urbanisation - always condemning social change and reaffirming what they regarded as traditional values.
Although it needs an update, Blacking Up is still most illuminating for anyone seeking a broader understanding of the social functions of popular culture.
November 15, 2013
A detailed look at how early blackface performers ("Ethiopian delineators") morphed into a variety show that used black characters both to reassure whites about the lowly simplicity of the Negro and to critique white society (with high-falutin' airs-putting-on black men standing in for white snobs). Toll traces minstrelry as it shifts from a somewhat mixed view of slavery (slaves might be happy but slavery was cruel) to an increasingly warm-and-fuzzy presentation as the issue became more controversial, and the various transitions of the genre after the war (which included genuinely black minstrel performers). Very interesting.
May 18, 2025
After reading the 1619 Project, I wanted to learn more about minstrelsy and why it was such a popular art form for nearly a century of American history, one that has basically disappeared.
I learned quite a bit from this well-researched book, but I admit I was hoping for some information on minstrel tropes that have lingered in modern pop culture. Perhaps that’s in another book.
This book did confirm America’s tradition of seeing black artists and loving them, then stealing their material, profiting from it, and making it less accessible to black originators.
The answer to the question of “why was minstrelsy so popular” seems to be that whites at the time were fascinated by plantation culture, and what they perceived as the “natural” inclination of slaves to spend their time singing and dancing, content to be cared for by their white masters. It helped them feel better about the inherent contradiction of American freedom and slavery.
The book goes in depth on minstrel tropes and famous troupes and celebrities. I would be interested in reading further about the impact of this form of entertainment over time, even after it has been forgotten.
I learned quite a bit from this well-researched book, but I admit I was hoping for some information on minstrel tropes that have lingered in modern pop culture. Perhaps that’s in another book.
This book did confirm America’s tradition of seeing black artists and loving them, then stealing their material, profiting from it, and making it less accessible to black originators.
The answer to the question of “why was minstrelsy so popular” seems to be that whites at the time were fascinated by plantation culture, and what they perceived as the “natural” inclination of slaves to spend their time singing and dancing, content to be cared for by their white masters. It helped them feel better about the inherent contradiction of American freedom and slavery.
The book goes in depth on minstrel tropes and famous troupes and celebrities. I would be interested in reading further about the impact of this form of entertainment over time, even after it has been forgotten.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews