Termine

80 Jahre lang waren Minstrel Shows eine der populärsten Theaterformen der USA und prägten die Vorstellung und Vorurteile der weißen Mehrheitsgesellschaft von Afroamerikanern, ihrem Leben und ihrer Kultur. Ein Abend über Ausgrenzung, Faszination und Vergnügen.

"The American musical has one shameful chapter in its history – minstrel shows. The most popular musical stage shows of the early and mid 19th Century, minstrelsy embodied racial hatred. Both white and black performers donned blackface, and audiences of all colors loved it. Hateful as their content was, minstrel shows were the first form of musical theatre that was 100% American-born and bred. Minstrel shows developed in the 1840’s, peaked after the Civil War and remained popular into the early 1900s. Minstrelsy was a product of its time, the only entertainment form born out of blind bigotry. In these shows, white men blackened their faces with burnt cork to lampoon Negroes, performing songs and skits that sentimentalized the nightmare of slave life on Southern plantations. Blacks were shown as naive buffoons who sang and danced the days away, gobbling "chitlins," stealing the occasional watermelon, and expressing their inexplicable love for "ol' mash."" --  John Kenrick "A History of the Musical"

 

"If I could have the nigger show back again in its pristine purity, I should have little use for opera." -- Mark Twain