Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1882 — Bro. Gardner on Negro Minstrelsy. [ARTICLE]

Bro. Gardner on Negro Minstrelsy.

Detroit Free Press. “I hev been axed,” began the old man as the mercury in the thermometer hanging alongside of the Btove began to boil, -‘I hev bin axed what relashun de negro minstrel troupe b’ars to de cull’d race. To return an eff-hand answer I should say dat it b’ars about de same relashun dat a hasty puddin’ does to a ten thousand dollar paintin’. I hev neber bin able to diskiver it. De cull’d man may dance an’ sing, buthe neber trabels on his ignorance nor on de jokes an’ gags of de pas’ ginerashun. If 20 cull’d men should put on wigs an’ paint up to resemble 20 white men, an sot down befo’ de public an’ ax why an elephant was like a gimlet an’ what was the difference between a clam on de sand and a sand on de clam, dey would de hooted off de stage. Yet. de public will see white men disguise deirselves as negroes applaud de gags, an* jokes, an conumdrums dat de poorest African in Detroit would be ashamed to acknowledge. If de public hankers fur sich shows, an’ mus’ hev em, let ’em go on, but doan’ let white folks deceive deirslves or be deceived, Continer to call ’em negro minstrel shows, but doan’ look fur de negro in ’em. He ain’t dar. He’s home in de bussom of his family, warmin' his feet, iearnin’ de chillen’ to read, an’ tellin’ deole woman dat all flesh am grass.”