Men And Women Slave Masters Essay - 1,885 words

Langston Hughes says, "Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it. Of course, you laugh by proxy. You " re really laughing at the other guy lacks, not your own. That's what makes it funny-The fact that you don't know you are laughing at yourself. Humor is when the joke is on you but hits the other fellow first-Because it boomerangs. Humor is what you wish in your secret heart were not funny, but it is, and you must laugh.


Humor is your unconscious therapy" Laughter for centuries has been the medicine that ensured the survival of African Americans. "Herded together with others with whom they shared only a common condition of servitude and some degree of cultural overlap, enslaved Africans were compelled to create a new language, a new religion, and a precarious new lifestyle. " (1) As Africans were unloaded by boat and placed onto plantations, slave masters were completely enthralled by the way they spoke, moved, and danced. Out of slavery emerged a culture that would influence America's mainstream culture for infinity. Slavery created bondage for Africans and when it looked like they were going no where fast, they laughed, sang, and amused one another with riddles, jokes and animal tales from the homeland. Slave masters could not conceive why slave in such a miserable state were so joyous, what they did not know was many of the songs, jokes and riddles were more than surface deep and many times about the master.


The slaves made the best of the condition by laughing at the way the slave master treated them and their reaction to this treatment. They were laughing at the slave master and at the same time laughing at themselves. However, it did not take long before slave masters made slave merry-making public. Many times slaves were called upon to entertain the master and their guest. Slave merry-making was also encouraged because it also increased the price of the slaves. "People took notice to the way slaves spoke and moved, out of slavery evolved Blackface Humor. " (5) Blackface comedy was when a person (white) painted their face with black makeup and acted like a slave (sambo). Blackface humor gave whites the chance to lift African American Humor from its original context, transform it, then spotlight it for entertainment, amusement (for non-black audiences) and become popular for their supposed originality.


As blackface entertainment became more popular so did the actors. George Washington Dixion introduced "Coal Black Rose" (5) one song which was part of this act was "Sambo and Cuffee", which was a comic song about a black woman and her lover. Dixion performed this act all over the world, some would argue that Dixion was the first white blackface performer to establish a broad reputation. By the 1830 's blackface, performers were every where and one of the most popular attractions of the American stage. Billy Whitlock, Frank Brower, Frank Pelham and Dan Emmett were also very popular blackface performer. Dixion created the one man, show but these men created a troupe of blackface performers.


These men also firmly established the image of blacks as happy-go-lucky plantation darkies, outrageously dresses and ignorant. Although there were other blackface performers before them, these men were the only ones who could give a real show from the makeup to the costume. "By the 1840 's blackface performances had reached an unprecedented level of national popularity. " (6) There were many performance troupes even professional juvenile troupes. Each followed a standard; they had a three-act presentation. The fist act opened up with a walkaround where the entire troupe came out made up in face paint and dressed in suits. From there, they gathered in a semicircle to alternate comic songs and jokes.


Here is a common type of joke many used; it is called; Mr. Bones: Does us black folks go to herein? Does we go through dem golden gates? Mr. Tab: Mr.


Bones, you know the golden gates is for white folks. Mr. Bones: Well, who's gonna be dere to open de gates for you white folks? For most white people watching the show the most funny and exciting part was the joke telling. (2) In the second act-the olio or variety segment- was the stump speech speaker. This is when one of the members in the troupe performed a comic, black version of a topic. Topics would range from, emancipation, women's suffrage, education or some sort of other current political or scientific topic.


The point of this part of the show was to show how blacks could not comprehend nor interpret sophisticated ideas. The third and final part of the show was a slapstick plantation skit, featuring song and dance with costumed men and women slaves. After the Civil War blackface troupes hired on free black men and women to perform with them. White audiences became upset and angry at many troupes. After the war and emancipation - during the reconstruction period when constitutional amendments were passed to assure civil rights and voting rights for former slaves and some blacks were elected members of the House and Senate; Whites wanted to be assured that blacks were still inferior and blackface troupes were not showing this by hiring them on. Therefore, audiences depleted, and troupes started to perform on circuits like the chicken circuit, which hit most black owned theaters.


Blacks who were part of the troupes started to branch off and start their own troupes. In doing this, they altered the usual blackface performanc ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: slave masters, face paint, musical comedies, men and women, golden gates

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