One might well wonder today, how could a nation that was founded on the basis of freedom for all create an institution denying freedom to a significant portion of its population? The answer is complex, but one of the factors was a common view of blacks as inferior humans. It is no coincidence that the minstrel show stage acts, which had white characters performing in blackface playing dimwitted, slovenly slaves, gained popularity at the height of the slave trade in America.

On this day, February 6, in 1843, the first minstrel show began in the Bowery Theatre in New York. The Virginia Minstrels were not the first ones on stage – the first minstrel shows can be traced back to the late 1700s – they were the first group act, and had the best repertoire.

The Minstrels were the first to introduce the three-act structure to minstrel shows, and to come up with the stereotypical examples that would be followed by many of the minstrel acts to come: the plantation slave dialect, the African rhythmic drums, and a character named Zip Coon, who, aspiring to educated discussions, often mangled lines to hilarious effect.