We’ve added a new article from the CDSS Cultural Equity History Working Group on the hidden history of Black and Indigenous Americans in our dance and song traditions.
While most people think of the dance, music, and song traditions supported by the Country Dance & Song Society as primarily white European traditions, the sources are much more diverse in their origins and have even more diverse influences in the US cultural melting pot. These notes and links to articles, videos, and photos are intended to help readers understand the many sources of these traditions, the reasons that some of these sources have been lost from the popular narrative, and the harms perpetrated by erasing history. This is not an exhaustive compilation.
Social English country dance developed in England from a variety of European sources. Dancing masters, composers, and musicians were sometimes Black, sometimes enslaved people. Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780), for example, was enslaved in the Caribbean and later lived in England as a free man where he composed music and country dances.
Dancing masters in New England devised dances and held dancing schools. New England contra dance derived from these earlier English dances and evolved as a separate stream of tradition, developing and sharing elements with other social dance forms.
Square dances in America derived from a variety of European and American sources, including French quadrilles, which were danced in square formation. There is much documentation of Black and enslaved people dancing quadrilles in the Caribbean, which was often a first stop for enslaved Africans coming to the Americas.
Charles Dickens, during an 1842 visit to the US, describes visiting a hall in New York City where he saw a large crowd of Black people dancing quadrilles. Here is a short video of Black dancers doing a quadrille in 1914. Caller Rod LaFarge describes visiting a quadrille club in Harlem, NY in 1946. Quadrilles are still danced by Black populations in the Caribbean.
In North America, early dance teachers, callers, and musicians (long considered part of the servant class) were often Black, often enslaved people. Black dancing masters who led dancing for white dancers also led dances in their own communities, where dancers did not take dance lessons. Black callers, who were often one of the musicians, are credited with creating the tradition of “calling” the dances. Phil Jamison has documented a variety of African and Native American dance components in southern square dancing.
Freeform and improvised calling, not following a script, came from the African tradition, in contrast to the scripted prompting of French dancing masters. This podcast discusses some of the sources of square dancing and Black modern western square dance clubs.
The Square Dance History Project includes other examples of diverse influences on square dancing. This Connecticut Public Radio story shares the history of Sawney Freeman, an 18th century black fiddler and composer who played for longways dances in Connecticut, and the documentary film Black Fiddlers explores the legacy of violin players of African descent.
While often associated with what are considered to be white musical traditions (old-time, bluegrass), the banjo is derived from African instruments that were brought to the Americas by enslaved people. African precursors of the banjo are well documented in the 1600s in the Caribbean, where many enslaved people were taken before being brought to the US (see Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History by Kristina Gaddy). The banjo as known today was often played by enslaved Black people both within their community and as musicians playing for public dances. A tradition of Black string bands extends back to pre-revolutionary days.
The banjo was adopted by white players in the mid-19th century as a central part of blackface minstrel shows and later used in multiple musical traditions. At the turn of the 20th century, many white universities had banjo orchestras.
Black string bands still existed and recorded into the 1930s, becoming less common for a variety of reasons, including segregationist marketing practices in the recording industry, as discussed below. Black musicians also shied away from the banjo’s associations with degrading racist images associated with blackface minstrelsy. In addition, folk festivals in the 1930s celebrated fiddle and banjo music as white Anglo-Saxon cultural heritage and did not allow Black performers on stage. The five-string banjo came to be de-emphasized in new popular music forms such as ragtime. Nevertheless, Black musicians were essential and influential sources for white musicians such as the Carter Family and Bill Monroe. A video by Rhiannon Giddens discusses this history.
Prior to Reconstruction, Black and Indigenous persons and traditions were integral to the creation and development of American social dance practices and traditions. Likewise, for over 200 years, non-white musicians were among the primary custodians of music and dance traditions that were later considered a rural, white domain. Segregation separated traditional music and dance practitioners and participants along racial lines. The following are some of the ways that Black and Indigenous contributions to traditional folk music and dance have been lost and erased.
Like dance, the history of American traditional music is one of diverse sources, especially Black sources. Black musicians and bands were the main providers of dance music for public dances until the 20th century.
As the recording industry gathered steam in the 1920s and 1930s, companies focused marketing to specific audience segments. String band music was marketed to white audiences as “hillbilly music” by white musicians, while marketing to Black audiences focused on blues and jazz played by Black musicians. Some “hillbilly” musicians were in fact Black but were not credited as such. In at least one case, the picture of a white manager of the band was substituted for that of the Black fiddler who played the music:
These practices resulted in the demise of many Black string bands and musicians and also left little recorded evidence that they even existed. This NPR interview discusses some of this history in the context of modern country music. This article from the Guardian addresses similar issues.
In many countries at different times, traditional music has been seen as a repository of the true national spirit. This results in a focus on traditions that are politically regarded as representing the majority culture, and the exclusion of traditions from marginalized people, even when they have made essential contributions to the national traditions.
English folklorist Cecil Sharp came to the Appalachian region in 1916-1918 looking for English songs, in the belief that materials found in these remote areas would embody pure English traditions. Initially he did not recognize the significant influences of Black and other American music on regional traditions. These influences were later recognized by other collectors.
Folk festivals in the American South were organized by white promoters for white audiences, displaying white performers. Black influences were not acknowledged and Black performers were not invited, thereby supporting the idea that these rural folk traditions were white traditions.
During the 1920s, square dancing was taught in schools as a way of promoting majority American and northern European culture in the face of immigration from southern Europe. Henry Ford was one proponent of this movement to counteract the influence of Black and Jewish jazz music and dance. Perhaps Mr. Ford was unaware of the erased history of square dancing as coming substantially from French, African, and Black American roots.
Many of the tunes and songs we associate with traditions stewarded by CDSS have a very specific origin story that harkens back to the blackface minstrel show. These shows were immensely popular in America and Britain starting in the 1840s and continue to influence popular entertainment to this day in music, dance, and other forms, such as stand-up comedy. Minstrel shows included songs and skits playing on racist Black stereotypes that were performed by white men in blackface. Though regarded as America’s first national form of popular entertainment, minstrel shows were demeaning to Black people. Many people now reject the associated repertoire.
Minstrel show music comes down to us today as both tunes (e.g., “Year of Jubilo”) and songs widely sung, including regular appearances in the grade school music room; albeit with socially sanitized, “white-washed” lyrics. Brandi Waller-Pace’s Decolonizing the Music Room provides detailed histories for well-known songs and tunes. The April/May 1978 issue of American Heritage offers a critical history of the minstrel show and blackface minstrelsy.
In summary, the essential participation and contributions of marginalized people in our national folk traditions have been lost and erased, replaced by an Anglo-centric, whites-only genesis story. Where the music and dance traditions of Black and Indigenous people have been portrayed, the portraits have been racist and denigrating. Erasure of the diverse origins of our music and dance traditions happened for both incidental and purposeful reasons and results in real harm and tangible loss.
Cultural ministers, statespeople, and scholars from many countries agree that heritage and culture are valuable commodities for a people and for a state. They define standing, reputation, and worth internally and externally. To take away a heritage by erasure or omission is to steal from the heart, life, and esteem of a people.
This document was collaboratively written in Spring 2024 by the CDSS Cultural Equity History Working Group composed of board and community members.
Thanks to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their generous support.