The Ex-Slave Oral History Of Cakewalks

Cakewalks, for many, evoke visions of childhood and carnivals. Dancers promenade around a circle, hoping they land on a certain number that will be drawn so they can take home the prized dessert. Who knew this pleasing game had such a murky and complicated past that demonstrated how African Americans opposed their oppressors? Although the exact year and origin is still undetermined, ex-slave oral histories assert that the cakewalk began in slave quarters of Southern plantations. The cakewalk was a grand-promenade type of dance, where couples would take turns performing. The couple with the best dancing skills would then “take the cake,” an idiom that is still common today. But the cakewalk was more than recreational dance; it also gave a chance for the slaves to ridicule the whites who tyrannized them. The dancers would dress up in their finest
According to the ragtime musician Shepherd Edmonds, who described the stories of his freed slave parents, “They did a take-off on the high manners of the white folks in the ‘big-house,’ but their masters, who gathered around to watch the fun, missed the point.” Often the whites even assumed the role of presenting the cake instead of the slaves choosing amongst themselves, therefore once again demonstrating their authority over the slaves. In fact, whites became so enthralled with cakewalks that by the end of the Civil War, it became a regular routine in minstrel shows, a type of variety show where white people performed in blackface. During these performances, the cakewalk became a grotesque event, where the costumes became outrageously colorful and gaudy. The blackface performance presented the dance as a ridiculous and an unsuccessful attempt to parallel white culture. Cakewalk imaginary was also used on sheet music, advertising, prints, and toys, with African Americans being depicted as