minstrel
noun
[ ˈmɪnstr(ə)l ]
• a medieval singer or musician, especially one who sang or recited lyric or heroic poetry to a musical accompaniment for the nobility.
• "they listened to the minstrels singing songs of knightly prowess"
• a member of a band of entertainers, typically white actors with blackened faces, who performed in a type of stage entertainment prevalent in the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries, featuring songs, dances, and formulaic comic routines based on stereotyped depictions of black Americans.
• "the exaggerated dialect of blackface minstrels"
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French menestral ‘entertainer, servant’, via Provençal from late Latin ministerialis ‘servant’ (see ministerial).
