What is The Educational Class ?

"The American Minstrel was the first pure form of theatrical entertainment in America. It was a variety show that consisted of songs, skits, dances and comic acts. The golden age of the American minstrel show spans across three centuries, from its stage beginnings in the 1700s , to its rise to acclaim in the 1800s , and then onward to its decline in the 1900s. Performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface, minstrel shows portrayed and lampooned blacks in stereotypical and often disparaging ways: as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical. The minstrel show began with brief burlesques and comic acts in the early 1830s and emerged as a full-fledged form in the next decade. By the turn of the century, the minstrel show enjoyed but a shadow of its former popularity, having been replaced for the most part by vaudeville. It survived as professional entertainment until about 1910; amateur performances continued until the 1950s in high schools, fraternities, and local theaters. As African Americans began to score legal and social victories against racism and to successfully assert political power, minstrelsy lost popularity. Blackface minstrelsy was the first distinctly American theatrical form. In the 1830s and 1840s, it was at the core of the rise of an American music industry, and for several decades it provided the lens through which white America saw black America."