Prejudice And Racism In Show Boat In The 1930's

The curtain slowly rises, the lights come up, and the audience is silent. It's showtime on Broadway. Broadway can do so many different things to a person. It can make one laugh, cry, want to yell, and then suddenly everyone is content. Similarly, the United States of America changes time and time again. America never stops evolving into something new. Broadway and musical theatre are no exception to that. Many out-of-this-world musical have made it on Broadway, but some of the greatest hits have been the ones based on the American society they lived in. A musical that is representative of society is something everyone can connect to because they live it every day. Musicals that can connect so deeply with the public are the ones that everyone

Racism in 1927 was not uncommon, especially along the Mississippi river where the Cotton Blossom would have roamed. Jim Crow laws ruled over the land and life was very difficult for many principally african-americans. But, Show Boat challenged the perspectives of white people by creating “three-dimensional” black characters (“Bloom et. al. Show Boat”). For example, at the beginning of the show Julie, who has a sliver of African blood in her, is the star of the Cotton Blossom. Then, a jealous castmember calls her out as being mixed race and condemns her husband for marrying her. The racial discrimination against the couple forces them to leave the Cotton Blossom. In the second act of the show, Julie is found in a Chicago nightclub looking like a “lady of the streets” (Jones 75). This may sound like Julie is a representation of a grueling world for people of African descent, but Hammerstein saw it as society being condemned for ruining Julie’s life (Jones 76). This was very out of place in 1927, and many were opposed to that opinion. The public was used to stereotype driven black actors playing very minor roles, but Show Boat held blacks as equals both on the stage and off. Black actors had equal pay as whites, and the company of the show treated them equally (“Show Boat”). The public was a different story. The show was advertised as a “musical comedy” and many did not see the layer of symbolism under pure entertainment (Jones 74). Show Boat demonstrated racism and racial injustice, a prominent issue in the late 1920’s and