(MUSIC--MINSTRELSY.) Large collection of sheet music including: Original Christy Minstrels * Jim Crow. *Jim Crack Corn; or the Blue Tail Fly * Bless Dat Lubly Yaller Gal * Louisiana Belle * Ole Dan Tucker * Massa's Old Plantation * We are Coming Sister Mary (two copies; both with a chromolithographic cover) * Poor Old Slave * Oh! I'se So Wicked * In the Morning by the Bright Light * Little Eva; Uncle Tom's Guardian Angel, and more. Approximately 35 pieces of engraved or lithographed sheet music, many depicting various performers and scenes, typically 2-5 pages; removed from larger albums; some with minor foxing, toning, few with archival repairs and dampstains. condition varies, should be seen. Vp, 1830's to 1880's
A cohesive and varied collection of original sheet music in early editions featuring the top composers and performers of the day. Each song was born out of the Jim Crow genre developed by white entertainer Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice in the early 1830s. Donning blackface, he developed his stage character after allegedly witnessing a disabled slave hobble about while singing a traditional tune. The Jim Crow persona became a widely used performance trope and soon became synonymous with the degrading stereotype of the grinning and hapless negro. Several works by African American minstrel composer and performer James A. Bland appear in this lot. Bland abandoned his studies at Howard University to become one of the most popular Jim Crow performers. He wrote an estimated 600 songs throughout his career including "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" which became the official state song of Virginia in 1940.
