Minstrelsy : iconography of resistance during the American Civil War

• Published in: Music in art Vol. 41; no. 1-2
• Main Author: Zapata-Rodríguez, Melissa M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2016
• ISSN: 1522-7464

Blackface minstrelsy in the U. S. relied tremendously on the publishing industry; therefore it depended greatly on the visual medium of sheet music and its propaganda. From the early development of minstrelsy, its rise and peak years, passing through racial integration, war and the introduction of black minstrels, it is possible to study the development and influences in blackface minstrelsy through analysis of propaganda and sheet music covers. But it was during the Civil War that minstrel iconography fueled even more the racial disparity that enabled white society in the North to fall into conflicting ideas about African Americans. Northern white society in the United States was comprised of abolitionists (radical and conservative), moderates, and racists. These discerning views played an important part in music production during the Civil War, especially on the minstrel stage. Both racial animosity towards African Americans and abolitionists efforts in the North would mark the confusing, and somewhat contradictory sentiment that white northerners would maintain during the American Civil War. [Publication Abstract]