To what extent did minstrel shows and songs borrow from authentic African-American forms...and...how should we interpret the material in books like Talley's given the legacy of popular minstrel music...as not only a strong influence on all American popular music, but also as a body of material that was coded as "Negro" (i.e. regardless of who may have created it)?
-Gibb Sahib


Gibb, the phrase "popular minstrel music" at first glance seems to be an oxymoran. I say that because from my personal experiences from my reading and from other mass media resources, it appears to me that minstrel music is one of the most, if not the most unpopular forms of music among the majority of African Americans. That is not to say that during its hey day from there weren't a larger number of African Americans than there are who genuinely liked most songs that are now categorized as "minstrel".

But I wouldn't be surprised at all if those Black Anerican who liked certain songs from that period that we call "minstrel songs" such as music on this website A collection of minstrel and plantation songs, didn't think of all those songs as "minstrel". And I wouldn't be surprised if some Black people (and some non-Black people) who liked some of those songs back then and who like some of them now made a distinction between that body od songs and other aspects of minstrelsy that they considered/consider to be abhorrent. I'm not just referring to "blackface" but also to the demeaning caricatures who were created by minstrelsy, and which have become the signature of minstrelsy.

The book Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in Am by Donald Bogle is an informative read on this subject. Unfortunately those caricatures have had a huge influence on the American stage, screen, and television. And Black caricatures, sans blackface paint, are still prominent in Black media. Some of these caricatures like Amos and Andy and others in their show, used to be popular with a number of African Americans. And others, like Madea in recent Tyler Perry movies seem to be very popular among a large segment of African American adults, though I definitely don't count myself as one of those who like those movies.

I see that I've come full circle back to your question, Gibb, though I've expanded it a great deal. I'll pull back those expansions vut ask other related questions. If in the 19th century, and the early 20th century, and even the mid and late 20th century, there were a considerable population of Black people who liked songs that Black people (and non-Black people) nowadays would consider to be "minstrel songs", why was that? And furthermore, if there are African Americans nowadays who like minstrel music, why do I think that is?

It seems to me that there are four core reasons why people like certain music:

1. Its sound conforms to what they consider to be aesthetically pleasing

2. It can be used to accompany dancing and other body movements that they consider to be aesthetically pleasing

3. It evokes positive memories for them

4. It has largely positive cultural significance to them or to the group or groups with which they identify

I believe that many of the songs from White minstrels were taken from or modeled after Black people, given the text, and structure of those songs, as well as the rhythmic, percussive danceable nature of those tunes which have survived. And so I have re-baptized those songs in the name of "Blackness". Instead of calling those songs "minstrel music", I call them "secular slave music" or "19th century and earlier Black dance songs".

And using the points that I enumerated above, when they are cleaned up from any (what I consider to be offensive language such as the "N" word, "mammy", and so-called dialectical "des" and "dems) songs such as "Jim Along Josie", "Hambone", and "Shortnin Bread" meet all but point #3 in the list that I gave above.

I consider these songs to testimonies to African American creativity, resiliency, and humanity. (point #4 in my Reasons Why People Like Certain Music list above). Like the old time string band composed of African Americans who are far younger than me, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, I am very committed to reclaiming this music as part of African American heritage. And I'm committed to sharing information about this music with other Black people and with non-Black people.


Azizi Powell