Minstrelsy, or comedic performances of “Blackness” by whites in exaggerated costumes and make-up, cannot be separated from the racial derision and stereotyping at its core. The first minstrel shows were performed in the 1830s by white performers with Blackened faces (most used burnt cork or shoe polish). These performers wore tattered clothing and imitated and mocked enslaved African Americans on Southern plantations. Blackface became particularly popular between the end of the Civil War and the