Sam Hague

Who is 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.

Hague began his career as a performer in British and American minstrel shows. He eventually branched into troupe ownership and management, and in 1866, he formed a ten-member black minstrel troupe called Sam Hague's Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels; the first white man to have done so. They toured England for several years, and eventually counted stars such as Bob Height and Charles Hicks among their members. Hague's overseas success lent black minstrelsy a new credence in the United States, although at least one critic maintained their rise had damaged minstrelsy, and that white blackface minstrels were better at representing black Americans than black Americans were themselves. By the mid-1870s, most successful American black troupes had been bought by white owners who had followed Hague's lead. When the Slave Troupe returned to the United States, Charles Callender purchased the company.