minstrel show
Racist variety performance
A minstrel show was a form of American entertainment from the 1840s through the early 20th century in which white performers blackened their faces and portrayed Black people through degrading stereotypes—lazy, ignorant, superstitious, musical, and childlike.
The genre established racist caricatures that persisted in American culture long after the shows themselves faded.
Black performers later appeared in minstrel shows, forced to adopt the same demeaning conventions.
The term now evokes this history of theatrical racism.
Fretted drum-stringed instrument
- fiddleAdjust restlessly; folk violin
- tambourineJingling handheld percussion instrument
- bonesRigid internal support structure
- jigSpirited folk dance
cakewalk · breakdown · reel · folk song · ballad · ditty · refrain · chorus
Charred stopper for cosmetic use
- Jim CrowRacial separation laws
- interlocutorOne who converses
- BonesDoctor's skeletal nickname
- olioHeterogeneous mixture
Large-scale farming operation
- Old SouthPre-Civil War Southern states
- DixieNickname for Confederate states
- slaveryOwnership of people
- Civil WarCountrymen fighting countrymen
reconstruction · emancipation · vaudeville · traveling troupe · showboat · riverboat · penny arcade
Traveling group of performers
- revueMusical variety entertainment
- skitBrief comic performance
- burlesqueExaggerated mockery or risqué variety
- farceAbsurd, laughable situation
slapstick · buffoonery · comedy · pantomime · theatrical · stage · costume · playbill
Fixed oversimplified notion
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
- degradationDecline in condition
dehumanization · prejudice · bigotry · discrimination · propaganda · misrepresentation · exploitation · appropriation
banjo
Fretted drum-stringed instrument
- fiddleAdjust restlessly; folk violin
- tambourineJingling handheld percussion instrument
- bonesRigid internal support structure
jig · cakewalk · breakdown · reel · folk song · ballad · ditty · refrain · chorus · songster
burnt cork
Charred stopper for cosmetic use
- Jim CrowRacial separation laws
- interlocutorOne who converses
- BonesDoctor's skeletal nickname
Al Jolson · olio · afterpiece · walkaround · stump speech
plantation
Large-scale farming operation
- Old SouthPre-Civil War Southern states
- DixieNickname for Confederate states
- slaveryOwnership of people
Civil War · reconstruction · emancipation · vaudeville · traveling troupe · showboat · riverboat · penny arcade
troupe
Traveling group of performers
- revueMusical variety entertainment
- skitBrief comic performance
- burlesqueExaggerated mockery or risqué variety
farce · slapstick · buffoonery · comedy · pantomime · theatrical · stage · costume · playbill · audience
stereotype
Fixed oversimplified notion
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
degradation · dehumanization · prejudice · bigotry · discrimination · propaganda · misrepresentation · exploitation · appropriation · Jim Crow laws
- vaudevillevaudeville, variety act, music hall, headliner, music halls
- Victorian entertainmentvaudeville, music hall, pantomime, melodrama, burlesque
- Victorian TheatreHenrik Ibsen, proscenium, Oscar Wilde, footlights, backstage
- comedycomedy, jokes, humor, puns, sarcasm
- theaterplays, stage, play, onstage, acting
- theatreBroadway, acting, theatre, stage, actor
minstrel showgospel music
Christian songs with strong harmony
spirituals · jazz · Motown · hip-hop · spoken word poetry
show, showing, showy, showcase, shows, showed, showman, showiness, showpiece