"First performed by George Dixon in 1834, Zip Coon made a mockery of free blacks. An arrogant, ostentatious figure, he dressed in high style and spoke in a series of malaprops and puns that undermined his attempts to appear dignified."[103]
this is the part that keeps striking me, that much of the appeal of minstrelsy was to deride slaves who sought to raise their status. i think abstractly this sort of style persists
Scenery grew lavish and expensive, and specialty acts such as strongmen, acrobats, or circus freaks sometimes appeared. These changes made minstrelsy unprofitable for smaller troupes. Minstrel troupes, which previously had tended to be owned by performers, now tended to be owned by professional managers such as Haverly.[57]
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A survey of nine surviving professional minstrel performers in 1947 found a variety of reasons given for the near-total collapse of professional minstrel shows; the rise of motion pictures and other forms of stage show, the inability to recruit performers for minstrel troupes' gruelling tours, and the difficulty of finding theater bookings at a cost cheap enough to make back. None thought changing societal attitudes to race relations played a role in its decline.
Racism made black minstrelsy a difficult profession.
Most black troupes did not last long.[76]
The addition of jubilee singing gave black minstrelsy a popularity boost as the black troupes were rightly believed to be the most authentic performers of such material.[77]
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