The Black & White Minstrel Show (27/04/74)

[@Aeonterbor]

This content is hosted here as close to it's original form as possible to act as educational research content so the program can be judged in full with it's content in context. If you would like to learn more about the racial stereotypes this show was based on consider visiting the web page for "The Jim Crow Museum"' for a in depth exploration of the culture of the time and how it affected people's lives. jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/index.htm

[@TheBrummie60]

Back when watching TV was fun. A real gem to cheer me up on this freezing evening. Thank you!

[@1000odahcam]

I'm delighted watching this beautiful episode of The Black And White Minstrel Show. The songs chosen are beautiful and the performance is spectacular. Thank you for sharing this wonderful show!

[@annoldham3018]

I absolutely love it when they sing Jacob's Ladder in the choir segment. It's so uplifting and jolly.

[@michaelsandford1015]

Very nice

[@QuoPaperPlane]

Now this is Saturday evening just after bath time with my Mum and Dad watching the B&W Minstrels and my brother and me at the dining table arguing over who's going to start putting together another Airfix model. God, I miss those early 70s😊

[@JulianOrchardfan]

Proper entertainment. ❤

[@slytheringingerwitch]

I was born in 1972 and so I would have been old enough this programme went off air. I have seen clips and the like, mainly ignored it and dismissed it because of the use of blackface. But apart from the blackface, I have to state its a good entertainment show. In a way though its sad that the male talent is hidden and so we will never really know who these men are because repeats on the BBC will be very few for obvious reasons and most other mainstream channels would be afraid of some backlash. Not condoning the face paint, but the entertainment is worthy of praise.

[@tls4022]

What is this? Sorry I'm in my 30s and never seen this before. But intrigued haha

[@Aeonterbor]

It's been buried for about 50 years so it would have been hard to see before hand, Basically this group started off on the radio in the late 1940's / Early 1950's and it got turned into a TV one off special in 1957. It was popular enough to be brought back for a recurring series and even crossing over with popular shows of the era including Till Death Us Do Part, Dad's Army and Doctor Who. It was controversial for using blackface and other stereotypes with recorded objections as far back as 1961 but it stayed on the air (Probably because between stage and album sales it made the BBC a ton of money). It started getting serious opposition in 1967 but it stayed on the air until 1978.