Is it that time of the month already?

A Connecticut Cupcake related this anecdote from his time teaching history to the Middle School progeny of Greenwich, CT:

"On a test a few weeks ago, I had students try to fill in the blank on the following question:

Beginning in the 1830's, African Americans found jobs acting in plays and skits in which they portrayed stereotypes of slaves and made fun of themselves to please white audiences. These events were called____________________. (The answer being minstrel shows)

None of my students had gotten it - it was something we had talked about in class but that they didn't read from their text. At the end of the test, one of the students came up to me and said "Mr. Templeton, I couldn't think of that fill in for the question about the plays. ... Oh wait, was it called a "minstrel cycle"?

The whole class was cracking up for at least two minutes. They ALL got the question when it appeared again on the final exam."