Guides: Blackface Minstrelsy Resources: Books

Books

WARNING: This page contains references to blackface minstrelsy, a theatrical genre that involved demeaning caricatures of Black people rooted in racism and white supremacy.

History of blackface minstrelsy in Minnesota

A strictly American institution: Neil O'Brien, blackface minstrelsy, and the invention of white Catholic identity Popular music, 2019-10, Vol.38 (3), p.379-398 by George K. Blake
Publication Date: 2019
“Do You Want to Build on a Racist Tradition?”: Olaf from Disney's Frozen and Blackface Minstrelsy Journal of popular culture, 2019-10, Vol.52 (5), p.1058-1080 by Michelle Abate
Publication Date: 2019
Can American Popular Vocal Music Escape the Legacy of Blackface Minstrelsy? The Journal of aesthetics and art criticism, 2013-01-01, Vol.71 (1), p.91-100 by Lee Brown
Publication Date: 2014

Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth-Century Blackface Minstrelsy by edited by Annemarie Bean, James B. Hatch, and Brooks McNamara
Call Number: PN3195 I58 1996
ISBN: 0819563005
Publication Date: 1996
Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy by Stephen Burge Johnson
Call Number: Available Online
ISBN: 1558499342
Publication Date: 2012
Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century America by Robert C. Toll
Call Number: ML1711 .T64 1974
ISBN: 019502172X
Publication Date: 1974
Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class by Eric Lott
Call Number: ML1711 .L67 2013
ISBN: 0195320557
Publication Date: 2013
Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture by William J. Mahar
Call Number: ML1711 .M34 1999
ISBN: 0252066960
Publication Date: 1999
Demons of Disorder: Early Minstrels and Their World by Dale Cockrell
Call Number: ML1711 C63 1997
ISBN: 0521568285
Publication Date: 1997
Raising Cain: Blackface Performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop by W. T. Lhamon
Call Number: PN1969 .M5 L53 1998
ISBN: 0674747119
Publication Date: 1998
Scandalize My Name: Black Imagery in American Popular by Sam Dennison
Call Number: ML3556 .D448
ISBN: 0824093097
Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop by Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen
Call Number: PN1969.M5 T39 2012
ISBN: 0393070980
Publication Date: 2012
Men in Blackface: True Stories of the Minstrel Show by Seymour Stark
Call Number: Available on Amazon
ISBN: 073885736X
Publication Date: 2000
Racism and Early Blackface Comic Traditions: From the Old World to the New by Robert Hornback
Call Number: Available Online
ISBN: 3319780476
Publication Date: 2018
Blackface Nation: Race, Reform, and Identity in American Popular Music, 1812-1925 by Brian Roberts
Call Number: Available Online
ISBN: 022645164X
Publication Date: 2017
"Gentlemen, be seated!" : the rise and the fall of the minstrel show by Bauch, Mark A.
Call Number: PN1969.M5 B383 2011
Publication Date: 2011
Jump Jim Crow : lost plays, lyrics, and street prose of the first Atlantic popular culture by Lhamon, Jr., W.T.
Call Number: PS509.N4 J86 2003
Publication Date: 2003
Masquerade in black by Leonard, William Torbert
Call Number: PN2071 B58L46 1986
Publication Date: 1986
Monarchs of minstrelsy : from "Daddy" Rice to date by Rice, Edward Le Roy
Call Number: ML106.U3 R4
Publication Date: 1911
Ragged but right : black traveling shows, "coon songs," and the dark pathway to blues and jazz by Abbott, Lynn Abbott and Seroff, Doug
Call Number: ML3479 .A23 2007
Publication Date: 2007
Representing African Americans in transatlantic abolitionism and blackface minstrelsy by Nowatzki, Robert
Call Number: E449 .N92 2010
Publication Date: 2010
Spirituals and the birth of a Black entertainment industry by Graham, Sandra Jean
Call Number: ML3556 .G77 2018
Publication Date: 2018
Tambo and bones : a history of the American minstrel stage by Wittke, Carl
Call Number: PN3195 .W83
Publication Date: 1930
The creolization of American culture : William Sidney Mount and the roots of blackface minstrelsy by Smith, Christopher J.
Call Number: ML1711 .S63 2013
Publication Date: 2013
Theatrical and circus life, or, Secrets of the stage, greenroom, and sawdust arena : a history of the theatre from Shakespeare’s time to the present day, and abounding in anecdotes concerning the most prominent actors and actresses before the public : als by Jennings, John J.
Call Number: PN2259 .J4 1886
Publication Date: 1886
Birth of a Notion; Or, The Half Ain't Never Been Told: A Narrative Account with Entertaining Passages of the State of Minstrelsy and of America and the True Relation Thereof by Bill Harris
Publication Date: 2010
Whiting Up: Whiteface Minstrels and Stage Europeans in African American Performance by Marvin McAllister
Publication Date: 2011
Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930 by Brundage, W. Fitzhugh
Publication Date: 2011

Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America’s First Black Star by Camille F. Forbes
Call Number: PN2287.W46 F67 2008
ISBN: 0465018114
Publication Date: 2008
Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy by Hans Nathan
Call Number: ML410.E5 N27
ISBN: 0806114231
Publication Date: 1962
The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics by David Weinstein
Call Number: PN2287.C26 W46 2018
ISBN: 1512600482
Publication Date: 2018
Dan Rice: The Most Famous Man You’ve Never Heard Of by David Carlyon
Call Number: GV1811.R4 C37 2001
ISBN: 1891620576
Publication Date: 2001
Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture by Ken Emerson
Call Number: ML410.F78 E46 1997
ISBN: 0306808528
Publication Date: 1997
Jolson: The Story of Al Jolson by Michael Freedland
Call Number: ML420.J74 F7 2007
ISBN: 0853037388
Publication Date: 2007
George Christy, or, The fortunes of a minstrel by Tony Pastor
Call Number: PS1294.C67 P3 1885
Publication Date: 1885
Anthems and minstrel shows : the life and times of Calixa Lavallée, 1842-1891 by Thompson, Brian Christopher
Publication Date: 2015

Black Dance: From 1619 to Today by Lynne Fauley Emery
Call Number: GV1624.7 A34E43 1988
ISBN: 0916622614
Publication Date: 1988
Ring Shout, Wheel About: The Racial Politics of Music and Dance in North American Slavery by Katrina Dyonne Thompson
Call Number: Available Online
ISBN: 0252038258
Publication Date: 2014
Denison’s minstrel and song catalogue. by Denison
Call Number: ML145 .D459 1936z
Publication Date: 1936
Rolling along in song : a chronological survey of American Negro music : with eighty-seven arrangements of Negro songs, including ring shouts, spirituals, work songs, plantation ballads, chain-gang, jail-house, and minstrel songs, street cries, and blues by Johnson, J. Rosamond
Call Number: M1670 .J67
Publication Date: 1937

Baker’s Darkey plays : a collection of short, humorous plays in black face suitable for negro minstrel entertainments.
Call Number: PN4305.N6 B16
Publication Date: 1915
Brudder Bones “4-11-44” joker, containing a jolly lot of sable conundrums, Ethiopian jokes, burnt cork… by Henry J. Wehman
Call Number: Available Online
Publication Date: 1897
Burnt Cork Jokes
Call Number: Available Online
Publication Date: 1910
How to Put on a Minstrel Show by Harold Rossiter
Call Number: PN3195 R6 1921
Publication Date: 1921
The Minstrel Guide and Joke Book by Paul E. Lowe
Call Number: Available Online
Publication Date: 1850
Tambo and Bones: A History of the American Minstrel Stage by Carl Frederick Wittke
Call Number: PN3195 W83 1930
Publication Date: 1930
The Witmark Amateur Minstrel Guide and Burnt Cork Encyclopedia by by Frank Dumont
Call Number: PN3155 .D8 1899 AND Available Online
Publication Date: 1897
The World’s Best Book of Minstrelsy by Herbert Preston Powell
Call Number: PN4306N6P6 1969
Publication Date: 1926
“Gentlemen, Be Seated!”: A Parade of the Old-Time Minstrels by Dailey Paskman
Call Number: PN3195 P3 1928
Publication Date: 1928
Negro minstrels : a complete guide to Negro minstrelsy, containing recitations, jokes, crossfires, conundrums, riddles, stump speeches, ragtime and sentimental songs, etc., including hints on organizing and successfully presenting a performance by Haverly, Jack
Call Number: PN4305.N6 H3 1902
Publication Date: 1902
Old cabin home minstrels : a minstrel entertainment in three acts made up of old plantation songs, for the use of church, lodge, club, school, or community choruses / compiled and arranged by Adams, Carrie B.
Call Number: M1500.A352 C6 1921
Publication Date: 1921
This grotesque essence : plays from the American minstrel stage by Engle, Gary D.
Call Number: PS632 .T47
Publication Date: 1978
Little Tommy Parker celebrated colored minstrel show by Brown, Carlyle
Call Number: AE4592
Publication Date: 1992
At Ease by Writers and Material Committee of Camp Shows, Inc.
Call Number: D810 E8A8 1942
Publication Date: 1942
The minstrel encyclopedia by Hare, Walter Ben
Call Number: ML2870.H37 M56 1926
Publication Date: 1926
The world’s best book of minstrelsy / by Herbert Preston Powell ; illustrated by Charles Clark, full instructions for producing, with complete first parts and specialties. by Powell, Preston
Call Number: PN4306.N6 P6 1926
Publication Date: 1926

Banjo Roots and Branches by edited by Robert B. Winans
Call Number: Available Online
ISBN: 0252083601
Publication Date: 2018
Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein
Call Number: ML3556 E8 2003
ISBN: 0252071506
Publication Date: 2003
The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy by Bob Carlin
Call Number: ML419 S93 C37 2007
ISBN: 0786428740
Publication Date: 2004
Banjo: An Illustrated History by Bob Carlin
Call Number: ML1015 B3 C37 2016
ISBN: 1495011240
Publication Date: 2016
African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions by Cecelia Conway
Call Number: ML3446 C667 1995
ISBN: 0870498932
Publication Date: 1995
That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture by Karen Linn
Call Number: ML1015 B3l5 1991
ISBN: 025206433X
Publication Date: 1991
Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music by Diane Pecknold
Call Number: ML3479 .H53 2013
ISBN: 0822351633
Publication Date: 2013
America’s instrument : the banjo in the nineteenth century by Gura, Philip F. & Bollman, James F.
Call Number: ML1015.B3 G87 1999
Publication Date: 1999

Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows by Henry T. Sampson
Call Number: ML1711 .S25 AND Available Online
ISBN: 0810883503
Publication Date: 2014
The Ghost Walks: A Chronological History of Blacks in Show Business, 1865-1910 by Henry T. Sampson
Call Number: PN2270 A35S25 1988
ISBN: 0810820706
Publication Date: 1988
Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music 1889-1895 by Lynn Abbott and Doug Serogg
Call Number: ML3479 .A2 2002 AND Available Online
ISBN: 160473244X
Publication Date: 2002
Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, “Coon Songs,” and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz by Lynn Abbott and Doug Serogg
Call Number: ML3479 .A23 2007 AND Available Online
ISBN: 1617036455
Publication Date: 2007
The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville by Lynn Abbott and Doug Serogg
Call Number: ML3521 .A23 2017
ISBN: 1496810023
Publication Date: 2017
100 Years of the Negro in Show Business: The Tom Fletcher Story by Thomas Fletcher
Call Number: ML3556 .F63 1984
ISBN: 0306762196
Publication Date: 1984
The Last “Darky”: Bert Williams, Black-On-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora by Louis Chude-Sokei
Call Number: PN2287.W46 C55 2006
ISBN: 0822336057
Publication Date: 2006
Whiting up : whiteface minstrels & stage Europeans in African American performance by McAllister, Marvin
Call Number: PN1969.M5 M33 2011
Publication Date: 2011
Little Tommy Parker celebrated colored minstrel show. by rown, Carlyle.
Call Number: AE4592
Publication Date: 1992

Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America
New York Times article from March 24, 2016

Nineteenth-Century Banjos in the Twenty-First Century: Custom and Tradition in a Modern Early Banjo Revival. Master’s Thesis (M.A.)—University of Maryland by Greg C. Adams
Publication Date: 2012
Sound in the Construction of Race: Blackface to Blacksound in Nineteenth-Century America. Dissertation (Ph.D.)—Columbia University by Matthew D. Morrison
Publication Date: 2014
Darkology: The Hidden History of Amateur Blackface Minstrelsy and the Making of Modern America, 1860-1970. Dissertation (Ph.D.)—Harvard University by Rhae Lynn Barnes
Publication Date: 2018
The Creation, Challenge, and Reinvention of “Daddy” Rice’s Blackface Puppet: Blackface Minstrelsy in America—Past, Present, and Future. Master’s Thesis (M.A.)—The Brooklyn Center by Steven Rice
Publication Date: 2013
The Minstrel in the Parlor: Nineteenth-Century Sheet Music and the Domestication of Blackface Minstrelsy. Dissertation (Ph.D.)—University of Massachusetts Amherst by Stephanie Elaine Dunson
Publication Date: 2004
Performing Race: Instances of Color Representation in American Culture. Master’s Thesis (M.A.)—The College of William and Mary by Katrin L. Adkins
Publication Date: 2003
Blackface Minstrelsy: Handbooks for the Amateur, 1899 to 1921. Dissertation (Ph.D.)—University of Minnesota by Barbara Schulman
Publication Date: 2018
Stowe, Poe, and the Minstrel Show: An Observation of Minstrel Show Stock Characters in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction. Master’s Thesis (M.A.)—California State University by Kimberly Calvert
Publication Date: 2007
Hemispheric Minstrelsies: Race, Nation, and Empire in Nineteenth-Century Performance. Dissertation (Ph.D.)—Indiana University of Pennsylvania by Jessica M. Showalter
Publication Date: 2015
“Black Opera”: Antebellum Blackface Minstrelsy and European Opera. Dissertation (Ph.D.)—University of Maryland College Park by Renee Lapp Norris
Publication Date: 2001
The mockery of nature: Blackface minstrel humor and race science in nineteenth-century America by Mark Leahy
Publication Date: 2011

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

Blackface Minstrelsy Resources: Books

Books

WARNING: This page contains references to blackface minstrelsy, a theatrical genre that involved demeaning caricatures of Black people rooted in racism and white supremacy.

Articles