The minstrel shows, after the civil war, did not very much affect how Black Americans were treated. Rather it held up the preexisting stereotypes and prejudices that were already held against them. If anything the minstrel shows would have worsened the stereotypes. Later in the early twentieth century, the minstrel shows would affect how Black Americans were treated, rather than using it as a form of mockery in the late nineteenth century it was used as a way to oppress Black Americans and justify policies such as Jim Crow.
