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Affray: A quarrel with violence and blows. – Webster’s Dictionary (University Edition), 1850
Air: Much of the music of minstrelsy was never notated. Songsters – one of the most popular forms of music publishing in the 19th century – recorded the lyrics of songs, not the melodies. Many songs provided new lyrics for old tunes, recycling the same air. In that case there would be a brief note from the publisher.
In a general sense air, from the element whose vibration is the cause of music, has come to mean that particular kind of music which is independent of harmony. In common parlance air is rhythmical melody – any melody or kind of melody of which the feet are of the same duration, and the phrases bear some recognizable proportion one to another. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Sir George Grove, 1890.
Amalgamation: The mixing of races, especially interracial sexual relations. Occasionally described as “absorption.” A coded terminological equivalent of miscegenation. Occasionally also qualified with the adjective "motley."
Animated property: A 19th century legal construct built on a foundation of property law, qualified by the adjective "animated."
Last Saturday a piece of animated property, called George Bowlin, was put on the block at Carrollton, Greene County, Illinois, and sold to the highest bidder. His offence was a violation of the law which prohibits the immigration of negroes into the State. Having been tried and found guilty, he was fined $63; and not being able to pay the money, he was sold to Mr. Felix Morton for sixteen months. "Selling Negroes in Illinois," The Anglo African Magazine, 1:10, October 1959.
Authentic: A word that would eventually be supplanted by "genuine." Authenticity was initially understood to be “accurate” or “correct” delineations or representations of blacks – plantation blacks, dandies, octoroons, and so on ad infinitum. Following the Civil War, advertisements for black minstrel troupes advertised the performances of genuine negroes.