Arts | Page 43 | MNopedia

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Cover of South of Freedom

The cover of Carl Rowan’s book South of Freedom (Alfred A. Knopf, 1952).

Advertisement for Rez Road Follies

Postcard advertising Jim Northrup’s play Rez Road Follies, which was performed at the Illusion Theater, May 18–June 4, 1995. The back of the postcard includes a description of the play, performance schedule, price list and theater information. Northrup, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, is from Minnesota.