minstrel

These would influence the American musical, but also shaping the genre were homegrown entertainments—the minstrel show, the revues of Florenz Ziegfeld, vaudeville and burlesque.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

The screams wouldn’t have reached the Hollywood Hills, where Bill Whitten wound down after a typical Sunday cooking Southern-style collard greens and cornbread in his eclectic home filled with African and Black American minstrel art.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025

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

From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2024

Dane Laffrey’s resourceful set — a raised wooden platform flanked, courtroom-style, by simple chairs — effectively evokes a minstrel stage, soapbox and gallows at once.

From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2022

And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

How did this music surpass its muses from the holds to the plantation to the medicine shows and minstrels and brothels and jukes, to the Grammys red carpet, lavish video shoots and MTV Cribs?

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

During the Middle Ages, minstrels were retained by royal courts to provide pleasant atmosphere.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022

The composer and songwriter Stephen Foster, a white Pittsburgher, wrote the 1853 melody, which blackface minstrels made into a hit.

From Salon ● May 5, 2022

Not to mention “My Bathroom Is a Private Kind of Place” by the American Standards, minstrels of the American Standard Company, maker of toilets.

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2013

There, visiting pilgrims, knights at arms, merchants, and minstrels gathered, each awaiting the attention of the Prior.

From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli