{"id":1148,"date":"2015-04-15T00:35:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T05:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2015-04-15T00:35:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T05:35:00","slug":"did-they-walk-the-walk-the-cakewalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/04\/15\/did-they-walk-the-walk-the-cakewalk\/","title":{"rendered":"Did they Walk the Walk? (The Cakewalk.)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The entry on Grove Music Online under \u201cCakewalk\u201d describes an origin of the contest from slaves on plantations in the American South. \u00a0Claude Conyer, the author, explains how the dance became a \u201cstrutting parade\u201d parodying the fancy manners of the white slaveholders. \u00a0In Conyer\u2019s origin story, the first cakewalks happened around 1850 and inspired the popular comedic minstrel shows that were all the rage. \u00a0However, minstrel shows were popular earlier on, beginning in the 1820s and continuing with the Virginia Minstrels\u2019 first show in 1843.<\/p>\n

Which came first? \u00a0Did slaves dress to the nines in order to make fun of the overly glamorous plantation owners, therefore creating a political statement? \u00a0Or did minstrels originate the \u201cZip Coon\u201d figure, dressed to the nines as a favorite stereotype?<\/p>\n

Does it matter?<\/p>\n

Conyer\u2019s simple statement is an example of the entire history of minstrel song and the misappropriation of Black Americans in minstrelsy. \u00a0He goes on to describe how the dance was performed as a grand parade entrance, dancers wearing ridiculously fashionable attire and exaggerating every gesture. \u00a0The accompanying music to the cakewalk often contained characteristics of early ragtime: \u00a0syncopated rhythms and leaping bass lines. \u00a0One example of a two-step or cakewalk piece is Kerry Mills\u2019 \u201cAt a Georgia Camp Meeting,\u201d composed in 1897.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a> \"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

1st Verse<\/p>\n

A camp meeting took place,<\/em><\/p>\n

by the colored race;<\/em><\/p>\n

Way down in Georgia<\/em><\/p>\n

There were coons large and small,<\/em><\/p>\n

lanky lean fat and tall,<\/em><\/p>\n

At this great coon camp-meeting.<\/em><\/p>\n

Chorus<\/p>\n

When that band of darkies began to play<\/em><\/p>\n

Pretty music so gay hats were then thrown away<\/em><\/p>\n

Thought them foolish coons their necks would break<\/em><\/p>\n

When they quit laughing and talking<\/em><\/p>\n

And went to walking, for a big choc’late cake.<\/em><\/p>\n

The lyrics to this piece describe a culture without substance, intelligence, or more than base desires. \u00a0Every person at the gathering is labeled as a \u201ccoon,\u201d and the \u201cfoolish coons\u201d walk a cakewalk because no desire could be greater than a chocolate cake.<\/p>\n

Although Sterns in Jazz Dance<\/i> explains that \u201cNegro specialists…everywhere were much in demand\u201d (Stearns 42), it is obvious that even those attending cakewalks were only looking for material to be used as commercial gain. \u00a0The endearingly simple \u201ccoon\u201d sold seats and gained laughter and applause. \u00a0But now the history of minstrelsy, more well-preserved than the history of Black culture, corrupts what we actually attribute to Black Americans.<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>Now that takes the cake.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/p>\n

Claude Conyers<\/span>. “Cakewalk.” <\/span>Grove Music Online<\/em><\/span>. Oxford Music Online<\/em>. Oxford University Press<\/span>, accessed April 14, 2015<\/span>,\u00a0http:\/\/www.oxfordmusiconline.com\/subscriber\/article\/grove\/music\/A2092374<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Stearns, Marshall and Jean. \u00a0Jazz Dance : The Story of American Vernacular Dance.<\/i> \u00a0New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968.<\/p>\n

“At a Georgia Camp Meeting.\u201d\u00a0Kerry Mills<\/em>. :: Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Popular Sheet Music<\/i>. Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Popular Sheet Music. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http:\/\/digitalcollections.baylor.edu\/cdm\/compoundobject\/collection\/fa-spnc\/id\/14135\/show\/14129\/rec\/4>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The entry on Grove Music Online under \u201cCakewalk\u201d describes an origin of the contest from slaves on plantations in the American South. \u00a0Claude Conyer, the author, explains how the dance became a \u201cstrutting parade\u201d parodying the fancy manners of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":773,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[525,526,524,172],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cakewalk","tag-dance","tag-kerry-mills","tag-minstrelsy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-iw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1163,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions\/1163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}