Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy

List of Illustrations

vii Illustrations 1.1. T. D. Rice dancing and singing “Jump Jim Crow” on New York’s Bowery Theatre stage (1832) 21 1.2. Playbill for an early performance of The German Farmer; or, The Barber Shop in an Uproar 32 1.3. Stephen Douglas “Dancing for Eels in the Charleston Market” (1860) 38 1.4. Dan Bryant and Eph Horn in Dan Emmett’s play The Barber Shop in an Uproar: “Are you te parpers?” 45 1.5. Bryant and Horn in The Barber Shop in an Uproar: “Te Furchinny style makes tam pad hurt on mine face” 47 2.1. T. D. Rice as “Jim Crow,” sheet music cover 52 2.2. “Jim Crow” sheet music, first page 53 2.3. “Jim Crow” sheet music, second page 54 2.4. “Zip Coon,” sheet music cover (1834) 56 2.5. “Zip Coon” sheet music, first page 57 2.6. “Zip Coon” sheet music, second page 58 2.7. George Washington Dixon as himself (ca. 1836) 59 2.8. Virginia Minstrels, from the cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies (1843) 63 2.9. “The Old Granite State,” sheet music showing the Hutchinson Family Singers (ca. 1843) 64 2.10. Stephen Foster (ca. 1859) 68 3.1. The Ethiopian Serenaders, with Pell, Briggs, and Juba performing together (1848) 74 3.2. Juba dancing at Vauxhall Gardens, London (1848) 76 3.3. Playbill for the Ethiopian Serenaders (1848) 81 3.4. Portrait of G. W. Pell 82 3.5. Portrait of Juba 82 3.6. Dick and Gilbert Pelham, from a sheet music cover for the song “Massa Is a Stingy Man” ( 1841) 84 3.7. The grotesque Virginia Minstrels, from the cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies (1843) 85 3.8. The refined Ethiopian Serenaders (1846) 85 3.9. G. W. Pell during the height of his success (ca. 1846) 86 3.10. Tom Briggs in the early 1850s 93 3.11. A rough woodcut showing “Yankee Sullivan” playing the banjo (1840s) 96 3.12. A sheet-music engraving showing W. R. Barlow with his banjo (1854) 96 4.1. Playbill advertising the exhibition of Joice Heth by P. T. Barnum 106 4.2. An engraving of the chess-playing automaton “The Turk” (1784) 107 4.3. Patrons visiting Joice Heth in Boston 107 4.4. Playbill advertising Maelzel’s exhibition of “The Turk” at Masonic Hall, Philadelphia (1834) 108 4.5. Minstrel automaton, nineteenth century 123 4.6. A scene from R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) performed in New York City (1923) 124 5.1. Lydia Brown tears her clothes in Birth of a Nation 138 5.2. Gus, the renegade 138 5.3. Silas Lynch is urged to stand tall 138 5.4. Mammy throws her weight on two black(face) soldiers 138 5.5. Mammy hugs her white rescuer 139 5.6. Mammy and the “free-nigger from de n’of” 139 5.7. Soldiers in the service of Silas Lynch 139 5.8. Easily manipulated new black citizens 139 5.9. “The bringing of the African” 140 5.10. Samuel Jones with shifty eyes, in One Exciting Night 143 5.11. Opening shot of One Exciting Night: the African 144 5.12. The African retrieves the locket 145 5.13. The white woman repulsed by the black African 145 5.14. The African overhears the plot 146 5.15. Romeo encounters the sleepy black community 148 5.16. Romeo’s black mask 148 5.17. Romeo scoots toward the maid 148 5.18. Romeo rolls his eyes in figure eights 148 5.19. Sam reaches out to the white woman’s breast 151 5.20. What was missing in the ellipsis 154 5.21. Sam stoically looks away from Agnes 155 5.22. Sam and Agnes “policed” by the detective 155 viii Illustrations 5.23. The detective signals to the mother to leave 155 5.24. Agnes and the detective, with Sam and the “mother” excluded 155 5.25. Romeo’s disintegrating house 156 5.26. Romeo and house lifted into the air 156 5.27. Romeo settled into the black community 158 5.28. Romeo tells his tall tale 158 5.29. A black youth smiles at Romeo’s tale 158 5.30. The community laughs at Romeo 158 5.31. Romeo kisses the maid 159 6.1. An issue of Mickey Mouse Magazine (1933) 167 6.2. The beginning of Trader...