Pa and the Blackface Minstrelsy
In the Little House on the Prairie books series (Laura Ingalls Wilder), there is a story about a Blackface Minstrel show presented a community gathering (called a literary) held in DeSmet South Dakota around 1883. And I do believe that it happened – Blackface was a very popular form of entertainment of the day, and newspaper accounts do show that there was a traveling blackface minstrel show that did a program in DeSmet in 1883.
Today, Laura enthusiasts have to ask the question of how to manage this scene when sharing Little House stories, particularly with children.
Blackface Minstrelsy started in 1830 with Jim Crow and was most popular in 1840’s-50’s, by the time of Little Town on the Prairie, Blackface Minstrelsy was mostly performed by amateurs in the Midwest and South.
Little House on the Prairie enthusiasts have faced this same struggle when talking about the stereotypic characterizations of Native Americans in the Little House stories. The recommended strategy is to other voices to give historical context and other cultural viewpoints; the same can be done here.
I have written a more detailed article on the Blackface Minstrelsy in the Little House books, and offer some resources of both historical and contemporary black traditional artists who have wonderful stories to tell and can provide a different cultural perspective.
Mary Pat Kleven
July, 2025
www. Roadfarming.com
