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The Virginia Minstrels or Virginia Serenaders was a group of 19th century American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 entertainers known for helping to invent the entertainment form known as the minstrel show
Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an United States entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety show acts, dance, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, blacks in blackface....
. Led by Dan Emmett, the original lineup consisted of Emmett, Billy Whitlock
Billy Whitlock

William M. "Billy" Whitlock was an United States blackface performer. He began his career in entertainment doing blackface banjo routines in circuses and dime shows, and by 1843, he was well known in New York City....
, Dick Pelham, and Frank Brower
Frank Brower

Francis "Frank" Marion Brower was an United States blackface performer active in the mid-19th century. Brower began performing blackface song-and-dance acts in circuses and variety shows when he was 13....
.

After a successful try-out in the billiard parlor of the Branch Hotel on New York City's Bowery, the group premiered to a paying audience nearby at the Chatham Theatre
Chatham Theatre

The Chatham Theatre or Chatham Street Theatre was a playhouse on the east side of Chatham Street in New York City. It was located between Roosevelt and James streets, a few blocks south of the Bowery, Manhattan....
, probably on January 31, 1843..






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Virginia Minstrels, 1843
The Virginia Minstrels or Virginia Serenaders was a group of 19th century American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 entertainers known for helping to invent the entertainment form known as the minstrel show
Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an United States entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety show acts, dance, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, blacks in blackface....
. Led by Dan Emmett, the original lineup consisted of Emmett, Billy Whitlock
Billy Whitlock

William M. "Billy" Whitlock was an United States blackface performer. He began his career in entertainment doing blackface banjo routines in circuses and dime shows, and by 1843, he was well known in New York City....
, Dick Pelham, and Frank Brower
Frank Brower

Francis "Frank" Marion Brower was an United States blackface performer active in the mid-19th century. Brower began performing blackface song-and-dance acts in circuses and variety shows when he was 13....
.

After a successful try-out in the billiard parlor of the Branch Hotel on New York City's Bowery, the group premiered to a paying audience nearby at the Chatham Theatre
Chatham Theatre

The Chatham Theatre or Chatham Street Theatre was a playhouse on the east side of Chatham Street in New York City. It was located between Roosevelt and James streets, a few blocks south of the Bowery, Manhattan....
, probably on January 31, 1843.. They had a brief run at the Bowery Amphitheater in early March before an expanded schedule of venues.

Unlike earlier blackface acts that featured solo singers or dancers, the Virginia Minstrels appeared as a group in blackface and what would become iconic costumes and performed more elaborate shows. In March 1843 they appeared in Welch's Olympic Circus as part of an equestrian act. Although they primarily appeared within a larger schedule of entertainment in their earliest months, they surely were the first minstrels to also be hired to perform by themselves at smaller venues.

Among other things, they are credited with the songs "Jimmy Crack Corn" and "Old Dan Tucker
Old Dan Tucker

"Old Dan Tucker", also known as "Ole Dan Tucker", "Dan Tucker", and other variants, is a American popular music. Its origins remain obscure; the tune may have come from oral tradition, and the words may have been written by songwriter and performer Dan Emmett....
", which passed into American folk
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 culture.

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See also

  • Minstrel show
    Minstrel show

    The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an United States entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety show acts, dance, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, blacks in blackface....