Abstract

The province of Québec is often not included or under-studied in research regarding blackface minstrelsy, but it would be fallacious to assume that its underrepresentation in publicly accessible archives equates its non-existence. Blackface minstrelsy is a racist theatrical form in which white actors and musicians, the minstrels, would apply burnt cork to their faces and perform derogatory stereotypes of Black people in front of white audiences. As Cheryl Thompson argues, white Canadians reproduced American minstrelsy, not to soothe class fears, but in response to their fears about Black immigration and their supposed inability to assimilate into Canadian culture. Looking specifically at Montréal, blackness was used as a satirical tool to debase francophone bodies, which were deemed “other” to the Anglo-Saxon English-speaking majority at the time. Henri Julien’s Songs of the By-Town Coons exemplifies how blackface minstrelsy imagery found its way into mainstream media and the width of its popularity.
Located in the Jewish Public Library archives, the Young Men/Women Hebrew Association (YM-YWHA) and the Irving Silverman fonds contain a plethora of photographs and documents related to their very own minstrels, which were part of their musical programme. Examining the YMHA minstrels as a case study allows for the first in-depth analysis of this troupe and for situating it within the broader context of Canadian blackface minstrelsy. This project then observes the role of the performances and their recording in the Jewish community’s own archives as a necessity for self-representation while simultaneously highlighting the pride they took in their performances.