Luke Schoolcraft's first stage performance was in 1851 in Rolla, the Richard Brinsley Sheridan adaptation of August von Kotzebue's Pizarro.

Today minstrelsy and its attendant blackface is viewed as racist and anachronistic, however it was the preeminent entertainment in the United States during the life of Luke Schoolcraft, and he was one of the most well-known and successful performers.

In 1872, Schoolcraft moved to New York City and made a spectacular debut at Richard M. Hooley's Opera House in Brooklyn on March 25, 1872.

"[2] Schoolcraft & Coes appeared with a number of leading companies including Emerson's Megatherian Minstrels and Barlow, Wilson, Primrose & West.

By 1880, the two settled with their families in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and continued to tour throughout the country performing their minstrel act in a variety of shows and venues.