Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Minstrelsy vs. Cotton Club

Why is it that minstrelsy lost popularity in the early 1900's whereas venues such as the Cotton Club, which also portrayed the "exotic" nature of black culture, flourished? Were there major differences between the two in terms of its racist depictions of blacks? Since the Cotton Club was not open to the general public, like a minstrelsy show would have been, did people visit the club just to see the black performances or just to show that they could afford it (status symbol)?

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