In an irony of ironies, a black-face minstrel show was set to be performed in Lykens in 1925 for the benefit of the fund to raise money for the bronze tablet honoring area veterans who served in the Civil War – the war that saved the Union and freed the enslaved. Leading the black-face end men, was Charles Boeckler, whose father, William Boeckler was a Civil War veteran and whose name would appear on the memorial tablet. Charles Boeckler, a Lykens barber, gained his reputation as a “comedian” by putting on black-face and acting out stereotypes to uproarious laughter from all-white audiences.
Here’s the story as featured in the Lykens Standard, January 30, 1925:
MINSTREL CERTAIN OF SUCCESS
Friday evening of last week a number of applicants appried at the Moose Temple for try-out for the local Minstrel which is to be staged here and sufficient material was secured to place before the public one of the best home-talent ministrels ever staged in this section.
Under the able direction of Mr. M. W. Orr, the circle is getting under way nicely and out local comedian, Charles Boeckler Jr., is whipping the end men in shape, so that a big feature performance can be looked forward to. More information concerning the minstrel, which is being played for the Bronze Memrial Tablet Fund will be given in a later issue.
White men and women, who blackened their faces, and performed emphasizing negative stereotypical behavior that they attributed to African Americans, for the purpose of getting laughs, were often the most prominent people in the community. In this case, the minstrel show was performed by an organization from Lykens and Wiconisco that lasted into 21st century before it finally disbanded. It is not known when this organization stopped using black-face in their shows.
This post is part of a series in which news articles, photographs and other “memorabilia” are presented to show how “black-face” was infused into the culture of the Lykens Valley area. Readers are invited to submit photos and recollections on how long this offensive “entertainment” lasted and what locals thought of it as part of the culture of the area.
The bronze table, installed later in 1925, is pictured below along with an inset showing the name of William Boeckler, Civil War veteran who was born in Germany but spent most of his adult life in Wiconisco and Lykens working as a barber.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.