This was perhaps the most disturbing lecture of the semester. In the late 1800s, white people would do minstrel shows in blackface. It was most shocking to me that the banjo was presented in these shows as an African instrument. However, today it is a hallmark of white country music, such as in the Appalachian region. The minstrel shows also had a comical, but unintelligent Jim Crow character. These shows perpetuated a lot of racial stereotypes of African and African American people. It was very odd and disturbing to hear of white people dressing up as black people to entertain others. Also, that most of these events are never spoken about. Your average person does not know anything about minstrel shows or the origins of the banjo.

During these times, there was a lot of blending of cultures. We talked about how Hawaiian music became very popular for a time. People pretended to be Hawaiian to make their music more popular. This was another situation where I was surprised about an instrument’s origins. I always thought that the ukelele originated in Hawaii or the polynesian islands. However, it originated in Portugal and was adopted by the islands.

Cultural appropriation is a large issue throughout history. It can be a hard pill to swallow that things such as instruments and sounds are “borrowed” from a culture and become popular while the origins of it are looked down upon. Music carries a deep history of cultural blending, as well as societal issues of the times.