minstrel show

noun

1. a once popular type of stage show featuring comic dialogue, song, and dance in highly conventionalized patterns, performed by a troupe of actors traditionally comprising two end men, a chorus in blackface, and an interlocutor. Developed in the U.S. in the 19th century, this entertainment portrayed negative racial stereotypes and declined in popularity in the 20th century.

minstrel show

noun

1. a theatrical entertainment consisting of songs, dances, comic turns, etc, performed by a troupe of actors wearing black face make-up

Word History and Origins

Origin of minstrel show¹

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

However, the banjo's creation eventually became a blending between West African and European traditions mostly due to minstrel shows in the 1800s.

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Blackface performances date back to minstrel shows of the 1800s, in which performers darkened their faces to create bigoted caricatures of Black people.

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Redd’s father took him to see traveling minstrel shows when he was a boy, and he was particularly struck by the one-legged tap dancer Peg Leg Bates moving to the rhythm of a trap drummer.

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But Splash Mountain is still a ride in which the most popular song, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” has connections to minstrel shows.

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The rebirth extends the circus’ long run that dates back to a time before automobiles, airplanes or movies, when Ulysses S. Grant was president and minstrel shows were popular entertainment.

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