Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth-Century Blackface Minstrelsy

Title: Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth-Century Blackface Minstrelsy
Author: Annemarie Bean
ISBN: 9780819563002
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Published: 1996
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Number of Pages: 324
Condition Note: Clean, unmarked copy with some edge wear. Good binding. Dust jacket included if issued with one. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.
Publisher Description:

A sourcebook of contemporary and historical commentary on America's first popular mass entertainment.

As the blackface minstrel show evolved from its beginnings in the American Revolution to its peak during the late 1800s, its frenetic dances, low-brow humor, and lively music provided more than mere entertainment. Indeed, these imitations and parodies shaped society's perceptions of African Americans-and of women-as well as made their mark on national identity, policymaking decisions, and other entertainment forms such as vaudeville, burlesque, the revue, and, eventually, film, radio, and television. Gathered here are rare primary materials-including firsthand accounts of minstrel shows, minstrelsy guides, jokes, sketches, and sheet music-and the best of contemporary scholarship on minstrelsy.