I would make the claim that you can’t, or it would be difficult, to discuss the digital history of the past without discussing black culture. I think a lot of people avoid these kinds of conversations in class because of everything in the media and being that it is a touchy subject, but it’s so important and if anything, the media is even more reason we should be talking about it. The way that stories are spun and how they came about. The history in what events lead up to where we are today, and a important one to note is the Minstrel Show. I learned in class that Mickey Mouse was a minstrel character and my life will never be the same.

Minstrel Shows are something that I am really interested in. I think it is fascinating how genres came about and I feel like this is a defining moment in music. Minstrel shows are essentially white people pretending to be black. They would paint their faces black so that they could represent black people. This was a form of entertainment and SO MANY people lined up to watch the shows every week or performance. I think it is significant how even then, The Minstrel shows appropriate black culture. The shows are basically stating that as long as white people are the ones creating the form of entertainment and copying black culture for themselves, then it is okay. It is just interesting to me because people are lining up at night to watch the same thing that they were shaming people for during the daylight. This is a form of cognitive dissonance. Our cognitive systems make sense of the world and this is a really complex topic and it can be confusing when there is a discrepancy between our beliefs and our behaviors.

I think it is important to discuss how this might have evolved into rap music. Not necessarily the rap music we are used to listening to, because as time has gone on, music and the sound of genres have changed as time has, but rap music none the less. Rap music is essentially blackface. Furthermore, the idea of a persona vs the person you actually are is a hot topic between the two. The difference between who you are and who the person is behind the music or behind the blackface would be an interesting topic that I would have liked to go more into depth.