Demons of disorder : early blackface minstrels and their world

Bibliographic Information

Demons of disorder : early blackface minstrels and their world

Dale Cockrell

(Cambridge studies in American theatre and drama)

Cambridge University Press, 1997

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-227) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Carnival, charivari, mumming plays, peasant festivals, and even early versions of the Santa Claus myth - all of these forms of entertainment influenced and shaped blackface minstrelsy in the first half of the nineteenth century. In his fascinating study Demons of Disorder, musicologist Dale Cockrell studies issues of race and class by analysing their cultural expressions, and investigates the roots of still remembered songs such as 'Jim Crow', 'Zip Coon', and 'Dan Tucker'. Also examined is the character George Washington Dixon, the man most deserving of the title 'father of blackface minstrelsy' and surely one of celebrity's all-time heavyweight eccentrics - a bonafide 'demon of disorder'. The first book on the blackface tradition written by a leading musicologist, Demons of Disorder is an important achievement in music history and culture.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Blackface on the early American stage
  • 2. Blackface in the streets
  • 3. Jim Crow
  • 4. Zip Coon
  • 5. Old Dan Tucker.

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