Article on the Defense of Minstrels by Dan Bryant

Letter by Dan Bryant defending the musical abilities and behavior of minstrels against a previously published attack in the Herald on November 19, p. 8. “The extraordinary article on Ethiopian minstrelsy which recently appeared in the Herald, demands a brief reply from some member of that profession. Personally, I have reason to feel gratified at one paragraph in the article, which contains a very kind allusion to myself; but in justice to a profession that has given to America its only original music, and which has certainly done its part toward amusing the public, I beg a brief space in your journal to reply to an article that abounds in errors of the most singular character. Your reporter states that ‘many minstrels are no musicians at all,’ while the fact is that the leading composers of America, whose music is played on every piano in the land, are, or have been minstrels. Permit me to mention the distinguished names of Stephen G. Foster, C. Koppitz, Lon. Morris, L. V. H. Crosby, Marshall S. Pike, J. R. Thomas, Sam. A. Wells, Fred. Buckely, Dan Emmett, Charles White, J. H. Ross, John P. Ordway, Wm. L. Hobbs, Max Zorey, Nelson Kneass, W. H. Griffin and E. Bowers. Many other gentlemen of the minstrel profession, who have done some very clever things in a musical way, might be mentioned—I simply select the most prominent of them. There are only one or two vocalists in all the minstrel bands in this country who do not read and thoroughly understand music. Many of them, indeed, have been successful teachers of music.
   
Your reporter informs us that intemperance is the minstrel’s besetting sin, while the simple, absolute fact is, that no man of intemperate habits can hold a situation for two days in any respectable band in America. I think I may say that the managers or minstrels are even more strict in this regard than theatrical managers are.
 
The statement that the managers of minstrels have a weakness for gorgeous jewelry is quite erroneous. As a class they are as plainly dressed gentlemen as one can meet anywhere. In fact, minstrels are quite like other people. They have homes, and wives and children, and are as devotedly attached to them as other human beings are to theirs. And, believing that in their quiet, unassuming way they do far more good than harm—knowing, indeed, that they please the people—they modestly object to being written about by a gentleman who apparently doesn’t know much of anything about them. They especially object to having such a gentleman let loose in the columns of a journal of the influence of the New York Herald.
   
The part of the writer’s article where he so minutely describes the manner in which the cork is put on is accurate, and will please the minstrels generally, because it will save them the trouble hereafter of answering a few questions on this important subject.
 
As to the matter of salaries, however, the writer again waxes flighty and unreliable, placing those items at about half the actual rates.
   
There are many other errors in this article. I merely point out the more glaring ones. Justice to a profession that has labored so long and so honestly for the entertainment of the public demands that I should do this. Very respectfully yours, Dan Bryant"