Uncle Jacques

"Wouldn't the "Minstrel Story" make one heckkuvva controversial motion picture, eh? I'd love to see one if it was competently done.. and anyone dares to do it!"

There was a marvelous sleeper on TV called Minstrel Man with Fred Carlin doing the music.
It was about a black theatrical troupe that were forced to "black up" to do the circuit. They would compete with other performers and apparently traveled by rail. The final concert they do is in Chicago where they refuse to "black up" and are accepted enthusiastically for their actual talent rather than sterotyped image.

There is a poignant scene whereby a Scott Joplin-type young man in the troupe "whites up" to lampoon the idea of the minstrel show and is executed by local white townspeople.

Mudcatters:

Uncle Tom's Cabin was a big hit throughout the South and many Minstrel Show performers were associated with it. It may have been a catalyst for the crossover of the Minstrel Show to the white Appalachian banjo players and string bands. Uncle Dave, Stringbean, Brother Oswald and Granpa' Jones are exponents of this style of Minstrelsy on the Grand Ol' Opry.

The banjo is one of those instruments that for me has a magical quality which I associate with being distinctly American (aside from its roots as the Akonting in Africa).

Unfortunately, some of the most racist songs have the best tunes in the earlier part of the century. The "Georgia Camp Meeting" can't be sung today without offense but the tune is spectacular in my view...a variation of the Civil War song "Our Boys Will Shine Tonight".
The unfortunate "coon song" had great melodies too going into American popular music as "Puttin' On the Ritz" which was cleaned up for the marketplace.

Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby and others of the Twenties all "blacked up" at one time or another and they owe their early performance styles to the great black entertainers on the TOBA. Without the contribution of highly talented and brave African-American musicians, this Minstrel genre would not have taken place and the same can be said for jazz and the blues as well. African-American music is the wellspring for what has become the national musical heritage of the United States.

The Irish and British Isles has its place as well but the strength of American music is due to the interracial and intercultural connection between Africa and the British Isles.

Frank Hamilton