On a day in 1903 in New York City

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In May of 1903, five black entertainers assembled at the American Mutoscope and Biograph studio in New York City (the company, founded in 1895 was open until 1928. In 1991 the company was reincorporated in 1991) and performed two cake walks, which were recorded on film. Additional notes reveal the cake walks may have been performed on the roof of the studio. I found these two clips at the excellent Library of Congress online archive. The original description, d-word and all, goes like this:

An amusing cake walk, by a company of New York darkies who excel in this line of work.




Because others more knowledgeable than I am on the topic have written about cake walks, I'll direct you to their material. In short, the cake walk originated on plantations where enslaved blacks were given special dispensation to perform dances that mocked the master and missus. It was also performed by free blacks who needed no such permission. According to the essay "'Scuse Me While I Cakewalk: Carnival at the Big House," found on the University of Virginia's American Studies Web site.

"Much bowing and bending were characteristic of the dance, which was more a performance than anything else. Couples lined up to form an aisle, down which each pair would take a turn at a high-stepping promenade through the others. In many instances the Cakewalk was performance, and even competition. The dance would be held at the master's house on the plantation and he would serve as judge. The dance's name comes from the cake that would be awarded to the winning couple."

The dance survived slavery–when you think about it the Soul Train line is a direct descendant of the cake walk promenade–as did much culture that black people created during slavery. I'm kind of amazed that these movies are 105 years old! To see the films, go here and here.


For a full history of the cake walk please also visit Sonny Watson's Streetswing.com


And okay it's not the Cake Walk, but in the spirit of the cake walk I include the following. Decades later our people are working it out!


Comments

Unknown said…
Oh Audrey, the Soul Train cakewalk footage made me so happy! Those moves! Those clothes! And for some reason, the cakewalk competition made me think of the time someone (Joe Hudson?) dropped Wendy Randolph in a dance competition in high school. "Cakewalk" had just come up in conversation with some friends and I didn't know the history in slavery--I thought it was some old-fashioned county fair fundraising thing. That must have come next.
August 30, 2008 at 10:33 AM
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