During the vaudeville era in the United States, minstrel shows became a widely popular form of entertainment. White performers, in particular, would don blackface—using burnt cork to darken their skin, painting exaggerated lips, and wearing woolly wigs. These performances weren’t just theatrical—they were deliberate distortions. They caricatured enslaved Africans and free Black Americans, turning real lives and cultures into comic relief for white audiences. Minstrelsy helped cement harmful stereotypes and racist imagery that didn’t disappear with time—they evolved. And the echoes of those performances still shape perceptions today.