{"id":45,"date":"2009-04-12T02:37:58","date_gmt":"2009-04-12T06:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ballycast.com\/?p=45"},"modified":"2025-05-22T02:42:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T07:42:58","slug":"episode-25-minstrel-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":"Episode #25 – Minstrel Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Episode #25 – April 12, 2009<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Minstrel Show<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Minstrel shows were extremely popular, and appallingly racist. Where did their appeal lie?
\nHow could such an odd genre achieve such popularity?
\nHow long did their influence last?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Download mp3 file<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"minstrel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Okay, I’m already being asked to explain myself. Most examinations of\u00a0topics like this\u00a0fall into one of two traps:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0holding the\u00a0subject up for instant ridicule and disapproval (“look how ugly and unfair everything about this was, wasn’t it awful?”) which it deserves<\/span><\/i>, but you don’t learn anything that way;<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(2) pretending to study it, while actually trying to excuse it, as a disingenuous mask for one’s own racism. (“Oh, it’s a tradition, it had a certain charm, we’re just having a little fun, we don’t mean anything by it.”)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I thought that such a\u00a0strong subject\u00a0deserved a straight-ahead clear-eyed look, honest in intent,\u00a0and I learned something:\u00a0audiences now are not really all that different from audiences then<\/i><\/span>:<\/i> we love and approve of patently ugly, biased entertainment, especially when strong issues are on the table … as long as it confirms our own biases. More on this argument later.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Sold in dime stores in the 1960s<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"download-any-episode\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Episode #25 – April 12, 2009 The Minstrel Show Minstrel shows were extremely popular, and appallingly racist. Where did their appeal lie? How could such an odd genre achieve such popularity? How long did their influence last? Download mp3 file Okay, I’m already being asked to explain myself. Most examinations of\u00a0topics like this\u00a0fall into one … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcasts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6182,"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/6182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballycast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}