Minstrel Show Dixie

DIXIE

  By Daniel D. Emmett

Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton,

Old times there are not forgotten;

Look away!  Look away!  Look away!  Dixie Land.

In Dixie Land where I was born in,

Early on one frosty mornin'

Look away!  Look away!  Look away!  Dixie Land.

I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray!  Hooray!

In Dixie’s Land I’ll take my stand

to live and die in Dixie.

Away, away, away down south in Dixie.

Away, away, away down south in Dixie.

"Dixie" was written by northerner, Daniel D. Emmett two years before the war.  

It was written to be performed in a Minstrel Show which was a traveling variety show that would travel from town to town. 

The character in the song was supposed to be a slave who missed the south and wanted to go back!  Rather than hire a black person to sing it, white performers put soot on their faces and painted on bright white lips!  This was called "blackface."   Although it is not illegal to do this today, it is highly offensive.

Here is short video about minstrel shows from the Ken Burns Civil War film:

In the minstrel shows they usually sang song that made it seem like slaves weren't very smart and were happy to just sing and dance and serve their masters.  Many northerners thought that this was what black people were really like since there were not very many black people in the north.

When Abolitionists complained and asked for songs that showed how slaves really felt and how they were really treated they were told that audiences didn't want to hear songs like that.

After the war, minstrel shows did start hiring black performers but audiences were so used to seeing blackface performers and they didn't think real black people were as funny to look at.  Sadly, some black performers started putting on the dark makeup and painting their lips white in order to gain an audience.  Bert Williams was a black man famous for performing in blackface.

The picture below shows a famous performer named Al Jolson.  In the 1930s (60 years after the Civil War) he was America's most famous and highest-paid entertainer.  He is best remembered today as the star of the 1927 movie  "The Jazz Singer", which he performed in blackface. It was the first talking picture- the first movie with sound synchronized with the picture instead of a silent film in which people had to read what the people said.  Imagine how many people must have gone to see it.  It didn't seem racist at the time.  It was still a normal, acceptable part of America's culture.

 The picture below shows him both with and without his blackface makeup.

The video below shows Al Jolson doing a blackface Minstrel show in the movie "Swanee River" which was made in 1939.   The story in the movie takes place before the Civil War.  This is the sort of show that people in both the north and south were used to seeing before the war.  It was a very popular type of performance.