Music, Muscle, and Masterful Arts: Black and Indigenous Performers of the Circus Age

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Sakina M. Hughes

Music, Muscle, and Masterful Arts

Black and Indigenous Performers of the Circus Age

Sakina M. Hughes

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English

The University of North Carolina Press
31 January 2025

Circus; History of the Americas; Social & cultural history; Black & Asian studies; Indigenous peoples

Before the heyday of the Chitlin Circuit and the Harlem Renaissance, African American performing artists and creative entrepreneurs—sometimes called Black Bohemians—seized their limited freedoms and gained both fame and fortune with their work in a white-dominated marketplace. These Black performers plied their trade in circuses, blues tents, and Wild West Shows with Native Americans. The era's traveling entertainments often promoted the """"disappearing Indian"""" myth and promoted racial hierarchies with Black and Native people at the bottom. But in a racial economy rooted in settler-colonialism and legacies of enslavement, Black and Indigenous performers found that otherness could be a job qualification. Whether as artists or manual laborers, these workers rejected marginalization by traveling the world, making a solid living off their talents, and building platforms for political and social critique. Eventually, America's popular entertainment industry could not survive without Black and Native Americans' creative labor. As audiences came to eagerly anticipate their genius, these performers paved the way for greater social, economic, and cultural autonomy.

Sakina M. Hughes provides a conceptually rich work revealing memorable individuals—laborers, artists, and entrepreneurs—who, faced with danger and discrimination, created surprising opportunities to showcase their talents and gain fame, wealth, and mobility.

By: Sakina M. Hughes
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 25mm
ISBN: 9781469676265
ISBN 10: 1469676265
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 31 January 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sakina M. Hughes is associate professor of ethnic studies at Santa Clara University.