Inside the minstrel mask
Subtitle: readings in nineteenth-century blackface minstrelsy
By: edited by Annemarie Bean, James V. Hatch, and Brooks McNamara ; foreword by Mel Watkins.
Contributors: Bean, Annemarie.; Hatch, James Vernon, 1928-; McNamara, Brooks.
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press; Wesleyan
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Hanover, NH
Language: eng
Number of pages: 310
Subjects: Minstrel shows -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Description: The blackface minstrel show occupies a central and contested space in the history of American popular culture. Its imitations and parodies helped shape society's perceptions of African Americans - and of women - and made their mark on national identity, policymaking decisions, and other entertainment forms such as vaudeville, burlesque, the revue, and, eventually, film, radio, and television.

Gathered here are rare primary materials - including firsthand accounts of minstrel shows, minstrelsy guides, jokes, sketches, and sheet music - and the best of contemporary scholarship.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-293) and index.