Question

A mid-nineteenth-century comic variety show in which white actors performed in blackface was called:

Answer 1

A mid-nineteenth-century comic variety show in which white actors performed in blackface was called a minstrel show. It perpetuated racist stereotypes and was correlated with the maintenance of racial segregation and white supremacy.

Step-by-step explanation:

A mid-nineteenth-century comic variety show in which white actors performed in blackface was known as a minstrel show. These shows were patently racist and served to enforce stereotypes and support systems of racial segregation and white supremacy. The entertainment portrayed African Americans in a derogatory manner, often with white actors using makeup or soot to darken their skin and embody exaggerated and offensive portrayals of black people.

The term "Jim Crow" originated from this practice, referring both to the blackface character and later becoming synonymous with the laws of racial segregation in the United States. Minstrel shows, unfortunately, played a significant role in American theater history, influencing later entertainment forms, including vaudeville and, eventually, certain aspects of early cinema and radio programming.

Blackface minstrelsy was a popular and widespread form of entertainment that propagated harmful racial stereotypes and played a part in the cultural justification for racial inequality and segregation, even as it contributed to the development of early American theater.