African American Representation in Show Boat

The evolution of musical theater in America can be viewed through many lenses. Through the lens of hindsight, it is easy to reflect on the treatment and portrayal of African-Americans in the contextual fruition of live entertainment in the United States. Dating back to the later half to the nineteenth and into the early twentieth century, ethnic representation in musical theater underwent a gradual change paralleling a shift in societal opinion toward racial equality. Though by today’s standards, its depiction of African-Americans may seem archaic at best, Show Boat changed the way audiences viewed musical theater through its success as the first show to deal with racial issues in the United States. In order to fully understand the point of view from which racial representation in Show Boat originates, one must have an historical reference point from which to base it. Musical theater in the United States emerged out of an industry of entertainment striving for legitimacy. Branching away from its European roots, defining America came to be the “central theme in American musicals, to which the other themes relate in both obvious and subtle ways.”1 But to define America, at the time, meant societal introspection. Society, however, was slow to grapple with some of its most obvious shortcomings: the issue of race and inequality. Meant largely as a satire of American society, one of the earliest forms of musical theater in America, the minstrel show, emerged in the 1840s. The minstrel show “always featured the element of satire in lyrics and skits with music that appealed to those who favored loud, raucous, and rhythmically jaunty tunes.”2 Initially absent from these minstrel troupes, African-American representation was left up to the white producers and performers. Thus, blackface found a widespread home in musical performances. Through smearing burned cork over their hands and faces, white actors and singers portrayed what much of society at the time