How would you explain the popularity of the cakewalk in the late Essay

How would you explain the popularity of the cakewalk in the late nineteenth-century United States - Essay Example This kind of song and dance competition took place among the slaves in the southern part of the US mainly before the emancipation but it is needless to say that even after emancipation the dance and song style did not die off. This paper seeks to explain the popularity of the cakewalk in the late nineteenth-century United States. Most of the facts of cakewalk dance and song were not extensively documented as at 1981. However, there existed a myriad of accounts about the dance. Brooke Baldwin in his 1981 articles (in the Journal of Social History) the Cakewalk: a Study in Stereotype and Reality submitted a nearly complete compilation of the already existing accounts of the dance (Baldwin, 1981: pp203-212). The compilation was, to larger part, accounts of the eye witnesses of the dance. These eye witnesses were the ex-slaves who may have also took part in the dance. The accounts by the Virginia and Georgia ex-slaves had already been verified by the WPA researchers in the 1930s. Baldwin clearly notes in his article that after the 1930 WPA research, it became immensely difficult to hide the happier side of slavery (Baldwin, 1981: pp207). One of the respondent recalled how she used to sing the songs and cakewalk. She also added how cakewalk was indeed fun among the slaves during the slavery times. According to this specific respondent, the women wore long dresses which were often ruffled and the men wore not only high hats but split tailed coats. They sometimes used walking sticks during the dance. The dance was done in couples and the couple that danced the best would receive the prize. It is interesting to note that the white slave owners would attend the cakewalk dances and they enjoyed a lot watching the slaves dance. Actually, the slave owners decided the winning couple. This account was a first hand account from a former slave in Virginia. Besides the first hand accounts, Baldwin also