The Happy Ashantees
The Happy Ashantees (or simply Happy Ashantees) was the name of an minstrel troupe and/or the name given to an item in a minstrelsy show, popular in the mid-19th century, usually performed in blackface.
In 1877 an item billed as The Happy Ashantees was included in the programme for a presentation by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 7 August, apparently as an interlude between performances of Pygmalion and Galatea (Gilbert) and Mr & Mrs White ()
Sources
Jen Wilson. 2019. Freedom Music: Wales, Emancipation and Jazz 1850-1950. University of Wales Press: p.71
D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p.359
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