In my opinion these minstrel shows were pretty disgusting in the way they originated, and are a perfect display of how socially acceptable  racism was during the 19th century.  White people would pretend to be black people simply for the amusement of other black people in order to make fun of the African American cultures of the time through skits and songs. The most interesting part is when black people are allowed to perform in the shows, so they wear black face to pretend to be a white person pretending to be black in order to openly degrade their own culture in front of hundreds of white people.  Even today, some of our famous cartoon characters have links to the minstrel show in their designs. Characters such a Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny could be direct links to the minstrel show that we continue to use without knowing the degradation that images such as them use to stand for.