Musical Theater Post by Sidnee Salter
African Americans were involved in Musical Theater as early as the late 1800s. However, their roles in the theatrical pieces were often embarrassing and condescending roles. The goal of the theater at that time was to entertain the white audience. This is why it was typical to see most blacks with black face on, dancing to coon songs. In the late 1800s, most musical theater pieces featured ragtime music to add to the humor brought to the shows by the black folks. The Cakewalk was a couples dance created by slaves and performed by blacks as late as the roaring twenties. The blacks would walk a straight line and balance a bucket of water on their hands. This was the only way to mock slave masters without consequence. Thus, slaves wore their best clothing and were encouraged to mock their slave masters in reward of the winning couple receiving a cake.
However, the role of blacks in musical theater changed with the change of the century. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, blacks began to perform as actual characters in plays rather than perform cakewalks and other racist acts.
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