the racism of the minstrel show

What's wrong with Pip's assertion is that minstrel shows were intentionally racist. They weren't. It was no more racially offensive to call a banjo style "nigger tunes" than it was to have "golliwogs" (a toy doll) on jam jars or to call strikebreakers wearing moleskin trousers "blacklegs".

We no longer capture black people and sell them into slavery - that's now reserved for other races (like East Europeans and Chinese). But it happened and happens. This is the kind of practice that needs to be remembered, commemorated and steps taken to eradicate it completely. Not to pretend it never occurred.

This is far more important than bickering about what colour traditional dancers, mummers and musicians use to disguise their faces. The evidence is that they used whatever material was to hand. And what else did sweeps have plenty of? Even the heir to the throne's posh friends know about soot.