Black History Month - February 19, 2021

WARNING: some of the images in this series are racist in nature and may be disturbing to see.

Before a disastrous fire in 1937, Melrose’s City Hall had a full third story that featured one of the largest auditoriums in the city. The third image, taken from the collections of Historic New England, is almost certainly an interior photo of that space. In that hall, Melrosians heard countless concerts and lectures, watched the first motion pictures played in the city, and even played the first organized game of basketball in city history.

For a period of about fifty years after the hall’s opening in 1874, minstrel shows were by far the most popular entertainments shown there. These minstrel shows were local theater productions, created by and for Melrose’s white people, often featuring some of the town’s most prominent citizens. The annual Melrose Athletic Club minstrel show was the biggest of the year, and was the primary community fundraiser for school sports. Members of the chamber of commerce and city government often took part; in the sixth image, you can see the Melrose Board of Aldermen were part of the show. In the seventh image you see a ladies’ minstrel show put on by the Unitarian Church; the star player on that evening was Annie Louise Barrett, wife of sitting Congressman and Melrose resident William Emerson Barrett.

Minstrel shows helped white people in Melrose to consolidate their racial identity while defusing their anxieties over the presence of other races through hate-filled humor. Their popularity a century ago is not one of the prouder chapters in Melrose history—but it nonetheless remains an indelible part of our past.

#blackhistorymonth #melrosema