Front and back cover spread for a minstrel show featuring a Gold Medal Flour advertisement. This show was held at West High School auditorium in Minneapolis in an effort to raise money for the Fatherless Children of France. From the Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet collection, St. Paul.

Second Annual Minstrel Show (1920)

Front and back cover spread for a minstrel show featuring a Gold Medal Flour advertisement. This show was held at West High School auditorium in Minneapolis in an effort to raise money for the Fatherless Children of France. From the Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet collection, St. Paul.

A scene from the movie Birth of a Nation (1915) featuring hooded Ku Klux Klan members surrounding Gus, a Black man portrayed in blackface by actor Walter Long.

Birth of a Nation (1915)

A scene from the movie Birth of a Nation (1915) featuring hooded Ku Klux Klan members surrounding Gus, a Black man portrayed in blackface by actor Walter Long.

A political cartoon by Charles Bartholomew published in the Minneapolis Journal on February 28, 1912.

For Harmony (1912)

A political cartoon by Charles Bartholomew published in the Minneapolis Journal on February 28, 1912.

Advertisement in the Bankers in Burnt Cork pamphlet featuring blackface iconography. From the Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet collection, St. Paul.

Twin City Dye House ad (1910)

Advertisement in the Bankers in Burnt Cork pamphlet featuring blackface iconography. From the Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet collection, St. Paul.

Page from the Bankers in Burnt Cork pamphlet. This show was a blackface minstrel production organized by the St. Paul chapter of the American Institute of Banking. From the Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet collection, St. Paul.

Billy Broad in blackface (1910)

Page from the Bankers in Burnt Cork pamphlet. This show was a blackface minstrel production organized by the St. Paul chapter of the American Institute of Banking. From the Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet collection, St. Paul.

Blackface minstrel sheet music written by Walter Bellam. Published by Joseph E. Frank in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From the Minnesota Historical Society sheet music collection, St. Paul.

Mammy’s Little Coal Black Coon (1903)

Blackface minstrel sheet music written by Walter Bellam. Published by Joseph E. Frank in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From the Minnesota Historical Society sheet music collection, St. Paul.

Members of a Salvation Army team put on a blackface minstrel show in Stephen, Minnesota, in January and February of 1887.

Blackface minstrel show, Stephen, Minnesota (1897)

Members of a Salvation Army team put on a blackface minstrel show in Stephen, Minnesota, in January and February of 1887.

Business trade Card for Joseph R. Hofflin, Druggist and Dealer in Patent Medicines featuring the theft of a watermelon, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Created between 1880 and 1910.

Trade Card for Joseph R. Hofflin

Business trade Card for Joseph R. Hofflin, Druggist and Dealer in Patent Medicines featuring the theft of a watermelon, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Created between 1880 and 1910.

The cover of The Five Star Minstrel Book (Northwestern Press, 1938), which is meant to act as a guide for anyone wanting to organize a blackface minstrel show.

The Five Star Minstrel Book (1938)

The cover of The Five Star Minstrel Book (Northwestern Press, 1938), which is meant to act as a guide for anyone wanting to organize a blackface minstrel show.

Blackface Minstrelsy in Minnesota

Blackface minstrelsy was born out of New England in the early nineteenth century and reached the peak of its national popularity in the mid-1800s. The performances put on by blackface actors electrified audiences across the country, who were typically white people. Their reception in Minnesota was no different.

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