AOG - //What are your thoughts on the Black & White Minstrels? //
They are an absolute character study for the concept of 'of its time'.
There is an utterly pointless trend on TV now for current comedians born since 1980 to view clips from '70's TV shows and gasp in horror at how unreconstructed we all were back then.
Except we weren't - we were in our time, and so was our entertainment.
I, and I am sure you, viewed the B & W Minstrels as a Saturday prime time entertainment show, which is exactly what they were. No-one gasped in horror at what they were doing, any more than Victorians thought it was cruel to send little boys up chimneys.
Society moves on - values that were true then may not be true now, and the same will apply in another thirty years.
So to point and gasp in 2017 is as redundant as wondering how people could go and poke the loonies through the bars at Bedlam.
I hope this answers your question.