Female American Serenaders

Description:This advertisement for the Female American Serenaders from 1847 represents a form of performance that was popular in Victorian England during the nineteenth century- blackface minstrelsy.

The performance of minstrelsy or 'blackface' involved the impersonation of African American men and women by mostly white British and American men. The form, which had grown rapidly in America from the 1830s onwards, was very popular in music halls, saloons and theatres around the country and consisted of the performance of music, song and dance by men who 'blacked-up' their face and hands with burnt cork. Shows portrayed black people in a very derogatory way which they did by lampooning them through crude stereotypes.

Birmingham, like many other British cities, fell under the spell of blackface minstrel shows. The Birmingham Journal (14/1/1837) reports a five night run by one of the most well-known American performers Thomas D Rice, the "original Representative of the American Plantation Negro," who performed the song of 'Jim Crow'. The city later hosted the Ethiopian Serenaders at around the same time as the visit from the Female American Serenaders. The female troupe, who are also referred to as 'Female Ethiopian Serenaders' (Birmingham Journal 12/6/1847) offered one of the rare appearances of female performers in minstrel shows however, it is possible that they may have been male performers in drag.

A review of the performance by the female Serenaders in Birmingham in the local press at the time is far from complimentary, referring instead to 'the gentler sex' "mimicing (sic) the musical monstrosities so much in vogue at the present time" (Birmingham Journal 12/6/1847." The article goes on to describe the group:

"The band of Ethiopian Serenaders consists of seven females, their faces coloured to a complexion resembling that of the Bushmen, wearing short petticoats which allows a full view of legs encased in reddish brown skin tights; on various parts of their bodies there is an abundance of brass, and, as may be supposed, that material is not wanting in other respects."

The trading on the sexuality of the members of the group is a feature that was also revealed in the performances of another female blackface troupe Madame Rentz's Female Minstrels which performed in America in the 1870s. It has been suggested that troupes like Madame Rentz's were forerunners of the so-called 'girlie shows.'

Despite the Birmingham Journal reviewer's reservations, the Female American Serenaders were well received in Birmingham "with unbounded applause and several of the most telling had the honour of an encore."

Image: The Female American Serenaders, Birmingham Town Hall, June 9th, 1847. Birmingham City Archives.