Charles Callender was the owner of blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 minstrel troupes

Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....

 that featured African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 performers. Although a tavern

Tavern

A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....

 owner by trade, he entered show business in 1872 when he purchased Sam Hague's

Sam Hague

Sam Hague was a British blackface minstrel dancer and troupe owner. He was the first white owner of a minstrel troupe composed of black members, and the success he saw with this troupe inspired many other white owners to purchase black companies....

 Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels. Renaming them Callender's Original Georgia Minstrels, he and his business manager, Charles Hicks

Charles Hicks

Charles Barney Hicks was an African American advance man, manager, performer, and owner of blackface minstrel troupes composed of African American performers. Hicks himself was a talented minstrel performer who could sing and play challenging roles such as the minstrel-show interlocutor or endmen....

, followed the lead of other showmen such as J. H. Haverly

J. H. Haverly

J. H. Haverly was an entrepreneur and promoter of blackface minstrel shows. During the 1870s and 1880s, he created an entertainment empire centered on his minstrel troupes, particularly Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels and Haverly's Colored Minstrels. Under his guidance, these troupes grew to...

 and advertised

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 the troupe far and wide. Callender's Minstrels played to packed houses and positive reviews in the Midwest and Northeast. Over time, the Callender name came to signify "black minstrelsy", and when rival troupes tried to appropriate it, Callender persuaded The Clipper

New York Clipper

The New York Clipper, also known as The Clipper, was a weekly entertainment newspaper published in New York City from 1853 to 1924. It covered many topics, including circuses, dance, music, the outdoors, sports, and theatre. It had a circulation of about 25,000. The publishers also produced the...

to refrain from writing about them.

Despite the revenues brought in by his star performers, including such talents as Bob Height

Bob Height

Bob Height was an African American blackface minstrel performer. He was a standout talent in the companies with which he performed, although frustrations eventually drove him to pursue a career in Europe. Later writers have compared him to his contemporary, Bert Williams.Height joined with Charles...

, Billy Kersands

Billy Kersands

Billy Kersands was an African American comedian and dancer. He was the most popular black comedian of his day, best known for his work in blackface minstrelsy...

, and Pete Devonear, Callender ignored their demands for more pay and better recognition. Some of them quit to form their own company, an action Callender claimed was tantamount to theft. The issue came to public attention for its racial implications, and most of the performers who had left eventually returned to Callender. The company stayed at the top of black minstrelsy through the mid-1870s. In 1874 or 1875, Callender organized a second troupe of black minstrels that would tour secondary circuits, such as the Midwest. After a bad year in 1877, he sold his main troupe to J. H. Haverly. He continued to operate his secondary troupe until 1881, when he sold it to Charles

Charles Frohman

Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....

 and Gustave Frohman

Gustave Frohman

Gustave Frohman was a theatre producer and advance man. He was one of three Frohman brothers who entered show business and he worked for most of his career alongside his brother, Charles Frohman. These two financed a number of theatre productions, often featuring African American actors...

.

Callender eventually got back into minstrelsy with new black troupes and stakes in others. He also funded non-minstrel fare, such as a staging of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....

starring Emma and Anna Hyer. Minstrelsy remained his main draw, and he owned troupes into the 1890s.