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The Influence Of The Blackface Minstrel In Black Culture

550 Words3 Pages

Through an extensive reference to recent social history and cultural studies pieces of literature, Eric Lott seeks to examine the role played by the blackface minstrel show during the prevalent political struggles that essentially saw the start of the civil war. In this account, Lott paints an image of the blackface minstrel as a show that primarily appropriated black dialect music and dance. In a similar regard, the show is perceived as one that, at some point applauded the black culture but unfortunately, and in an ironic manner, the show contributed to what was famously known as “blackening of America.” Additionally, through the content of his literary work, and reference to the blackface minstrel, Lott gives a novel interpretation of the very first and popularly renowned form of the 19th-century entertainment (Lott). …show more content…

In the same vein, the literary work “Love and Theft” contends that the blackface minstrelsy shows both disrupted and at the same time embodied the racial tendencies of the dominant male, white and working class people. Moreover, the envy, fear, repulsion and the sympathetic identification exemplified in the literary text “Love and Theft” consistently alludes to the fact that the minstrel show primarily transgressed the racially or rather the color defined boundaries. In a similar regard, as Lott contends, the show gave room to the formation of a self-conscious white Woking class, undermining the

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