Circus Performers

I was with a group of people who were putting on a performance.  It was a diverse group of white and black men and women of all different ages.  The main part of the show was spiritual singing.  In addition we had planned a circus act, the main one was to walk on a rope suspended about 12 feet in the air.  Someone dared me to walk across the rope and I did walk from one end to the other.  Then the group wanted me to walk back to the other side and I declined.  I looked at the rope and there was somebody riding a bicycle across it and doing other stunts.  The rope was sagging in the middle because of all the weight.  We had to tighten is back up.  The end of the performance came and the ringmaster, who was a black lady and all dressed in a fancy evening gown, called me down to applause for crossing the rope.  I was dressed in a white tuxedo with long tails.  People in the audience came up to me and said how much they enjoyed the performance.  I went outside the building and there were some very tall black men walking towards me.  They were dressed in some sort of uniform that was mainly decorative.  One of the men said I should salute the leader.  He asked me what was going on inside the building and I told him it was a minstrel show.  The men got visibly disturbed at that and I explained to them that there were no end-men and no black-face and it was really more of a variety show.  That seemed to calm then down and they said it was all right then.