List of blackface minstrel troupes

This is a list of blackface minstrel troupes, a 19th- and 20th-century American form of musical theater.

A

• Adams and Lee ^[1]

B

• Backus' Minstrels
• Barlow Bros. Minstrel, later Great Barlow Minstrels ^{[2] [3]}
• Barney Fagan's Minstrels ^[2]
• Brooker and Clayton's Georgia Minstrels ^[4]
• Bryant's Minstrels ^[5]
• Buckley's Serenaders (also known as Buckley's Congo Melodists, Buckley's New Orleans Serenaders, New Orleans Serenaders) ^[6]

C

• Callender's Georgia Minstrels ^[7]
• Cal. Wagner’s Minstrels ^[2]
• Campbell's Minstrels ^[6]
• Carncross' Minstrels ^[2]
• Chicago Minstrels ^[2]
• Christy Minstrels (also known as George Christy Minstrels) ^[6]

D

• Dockstader and Cleveland's ^[2]
• Duprez & Benedict's Minstrels

E

• Ethiopian Serenaders (also known as Boston Minstrels, Ethiopian Melodists, Ethiopian Minstrels) ^[8]

G

• Gavitt's Original Ethiopian Serenaders ^[9]
• George Mitchell Minstrels
• Georgia Minstrels, later Haverly's European Minstrels ^[10]
• George Thatcher's Greatest Minstrels ^[2]

H

• Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels ^[11]
• Honey Boy Hotchkiss Minstrels ^[12]

J

• J.A. Coburn's Greater Minstrels, later J.A. Coburn's Minstrels ^[3]
• Johnson's Dixie Minstrels ^{[2] [13]}

K

• Kunkel's Nightingales ^[14]

M

• Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels ^[15]
• McNish, Johnson and Slavin's Minstrels ^[2]

O

• Ole Bull Band of Serenaders ^[14]
• Ordway's Aeolians ^[14]

P

• Primrose and Dockstader's Minstrel Men ^[2]
• Primrose and West's Minstrels ^[2]

R

• Rice and Barton Company ^[2]

S

• Sable Brothers and Sisters ^[16]
• Sable Harmonists ^[16]
• Sam Hague's Minstrels ^[2]
• San Francisco Minstrels ^[17]
• Sanford's Opera Troupe (also known as Sanford's Minstrels) ^[18]

T

• Thatcher and Ryman's Minstrels ^[2]

V

• Virginia Minstrels (also known as Virginia Serenaders) ^[6]

W

• White's Serenaders (also known as White's Minstrels) ^[19]
• Wood's Minstrels (also known as Christy and Wood's Minstrels) ^[20]
• W. S. Cleveland and Company ^[2]

See also

• List of entertainers known to have performed in blackface

References

1. October and November 1890, S.S.Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal.
2. Rice, Edward Le Roy (1911). Monarchs of Minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to Date. Kenny Publishing Company – via Google Books.
3. "Coburn's Minstrels". Birmingham Post-Herald. March 8, 1908. p. 23. Retrieved 2025-05-23– via Newspapers.com.
4. Toll, Robert C. (1974). Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America . New York: Oxford University Press. p.  199.: an all-black minstrel troupe.
5. Toll, 1974, p. 57.
6. Lott, Eric (1993). Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. Oxford University Press. p. 180. ISBN   0-19-509641-X.
7. Toll, 1974, p. 200.
8. Toll, 1974, p. 37-8.
9. Lott, 1993, p. 37: an all-black minstrel troupe.
10. Bernard L. Peterson (1997). The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: A Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 38. ISBN   978-0-313-29537-9.
11. Toll, 1974, p. 146.
12. Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, 6 May 1920.
13. "Johnson's Dixie Minstrels". Yorkville Enquirer. February 28, 1878 – via Newspapers.com.
14. Mahar 362.
15. Toll, 1974, p. 138: an all-female minstrel troupe.
16. Mahar 363.
17. McCoy, Sharon D. (2009). ""The Trouble Begins at Eight": Mark Twain, the San Francisco Minstrels, and the Unsettling Legacy of Blackface Minstrelsy". American Literary Realism. 41 (3): 232–248. doi:10.1353/alr.0.0022 . Retrieved 10 May 2016.
18. Mahar 359–60.
19. Mahar 359.
20. Mahar 360.