Minstrel Show Tradition, Racist Entertainment, USA, 1950s
A young child who finds a rest home for retired minstrel performers. In "flashback" sequences, a number of actual minstrel veterans, including Scatman Crothers, Freeman Davis (aka "Brother Bones"), Ned Haverly, Phil Arnold, "endmen" Cotton Watts and Slim Williams, the dancing team of Boyce and Evans, and the comic duo Ches Davis and Emmett Miller, perform in the roles they popularized in Minstrel shows.
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American form of racist entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by mostly white people in make-up or blackface for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows lampooned black people as dim-witted, buffoonish, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.
Skiing, Laurentian Mountains, Quebec, Canada, 1950s, 16mm
First Grade Teacher Helps Boy to Learn, USA, 1950s, 16mm
Shows how a teacher, by helping a first-grade child to discover his need for learning, teachers him to read, write, and do arithmetic
Food Supermarket Operations, USA, 1950s, 16mm. Describes the activities involved in the operation of a large supermarket. Illustrates the many people and jobs necessary to help the supermarket serve the community.
Trooping the Colour, Queen Elizabeth II, London, UK, 1950s, HD
Airport, Passengers, Luggage Check-In, USA, 1950s, HD
Operation of 16mm Sound Film Projector, USA, 1950s, 2K