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[–]Shesstealthy 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

What a fraught tradition. You get to mock but for their edification.... and would you ever feel safe from retaliation?

[–]kunt-vonnegut 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It was later twisted by whites into blacks "trying their best to be white." Not a form of satire, but genuine. Then whites decided to "satirize" the black "failure" to be like them through minstrel shows. Female impersonation, especially white men dressing as extremely sexualized "yaller girls" (mixed-race women) also originates from minstrel shows... But black women never got their equality, so we still have these white men gyrating on stage, lisping in exaggerated ebonics.

Black performers were largely banned from performing their own acts. They had to also perform in blackface. Anything that didn't uphold racial stereotypes wasn't allowed to be seen by white audiences. So all the watermelon-eating, chicken-stealing "comedy" acts that originated from the old "Tom Shows" of the South had no rebuttal.