Blackface minstrelsy became a popular form of entertainment in the early 19th century. Predominantly, minstrel shows were performed before crowds of working-class white men, by white actors who used burnt cork or shoe polish to blacken their skin and created stereotypical racist characters of blacks. These characters functioned to instill conceptions of white superiority into popular culture while simultaneously oppressing black society. The fictional characters were often portrayed as childish, unintelligent, and dependent on the civilization of white society in the form of slavery. As we examine the changes that minstrelsy underwent during the nineteenth century, the function served by racist stereotypes will become apparent. Blackface minstrelsy was an established form of nineteenth-century stage entertainment, most popular in the northern states of America, that intentionally created exaggerated stereotypes of black people. for a predominantly white working class male audience. White performers blackened their faces with burnt cork or black grease and performed skits, songs, and dances and enacted their image of blacks. Rather than presenting an accurate representation of African Americans and authentic representations of the qualities of "Negro" life, minstrelsy reflected the ideas and conceptions of white society. The content of the shows, however, was altered to create images of blacks and slaves that suited white Northern audiences. White actors now had the opportunity to manipulate black identity and reinforce notions of white superiority, and portraying blacks as uncivilized reinforced the need for slavery. This black identity produced by whites served to reinforce racial differences, and all... center of paper...... Cain: The Performance of Blackface from Jim Crow to Hip Hop. Massachusettes: Havard College.Lott, E. (1993) Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. New York: Oxford University Press.Pfeiffer, K. (2002) Racial Passage and American Individualism. Massachusettes: University of Massachusetts Press.Pieterse, J. (1992) White-on-black images of Africa and blacks in Western popular culture. London: Yale University Press. Sussman, R. (2001) The Carnival of Race. New York: Columbia University press.Toll, R. (1971) From Folktype to Stereotype: Images of Slaves in Antebellum Minstrelsy. Indiana: Indiana University press.Watkins, M. (1994) On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Meaning: The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor That Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor. New York: Oxford University Press.