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Photographs
American Civil War ➔ Photograph, Sinclair Minstrels
Identifier:
178044.255Description:
Large group of men sitting in room. Sign above mirror says: "Sinclair." Posters on pillars, walls, etc. Poster in back of room reads: "Sinclair Minstrels, 44 NBC Stations, 17,000,000 homes." Likely taken in a Grand Rapids hotel.The Sinclair minstrels were white men who performed as black singers on the Sinclair Minstrels radio show, sponsored by Sinclair Oil. The radio show was popular in the 1930s, performed out of WENR in Chicago, Illinois.
Minstrel plays were problematic in their often racist portrayal of African Americans, who were played by white men. They date past the Civil War into the 1960s and toured the southern United States until the civil rights movement discouraged it.