The general argument made by Jack Shalom in his work, "The Ira Aldridge Troupe: early Black minstrelsy in Philadelphia.", is that minstrelsy is the basis of the African-American identity in America. More specifically, Shalom argues that banjo was a popular instrument in the United States and people from all races and classes enjoyed playing it; African-Americans created the banjo, and if it weren’t for the minstrel shows, banjos wouldn’t be this popular. He writes, “The popularity of the banjo and the music played on it was crucial to the early cultural exchange between Blacks and whites in this country and that interchange was essential to the creation of our first popular music, the music of minstrelsy, as well as to our most unique music,
