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Companies continued to perform in both the North and South throughout the Civil War, and after the war minstrelsy remained popular.

Although African Americans were forbidden by law to perform on stage with whites in many states, some companies secretly included blacks, and as laws changed several all-black minstrel companies toured America and Great Britain.

Black performers still had to wear blackface makeup in order to look " dark enough ," and they performed material that demeaned their own race.

Despite these drawbacks, minstrelsy provided African American performers with their first professional stage outlet.