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William Henry Lane aka "Master Juba"

In the 1820s, 30s and 40s, New York boasted many dancing cellars. These gathering places, often in the poorest sections of the city, offered drink and dancing to local residents. Dance competitions and exhibitions of skill were quite common, and the excitement generated by these events brought young white males looking for cheap sex and entertainment. In 1842, Charles Dickens, the author, visited Five Points, a run-down, lawless section of New York City. Like the other “tourists,” Dickens visited various establishments, looking for entertainment. In a dance cellar called Almack’s, he found more than he had expected. Historians believe that he observed William Henry Lane take over the dance floor. Here, Dickens describes the performance of the free black teen:

Single shuffle, double shuffle, cut and cross-cut; snapping his fingers, rolling his eyes, turning in his knees, presenting the backs of his legs in front, spinning about on his toes and heels like nothing…Dancing with two left legs, two right legs, two wooden legs, two wire legs, two spring legs—all sorts of legs and no legs—what is this to him? And in what walk of life, or dance of life does man ever get such stimulating applause as thunders about him, when, having danced his partner off her feet and himself, too, he finishes by leaping gloriously on the bar-counter, and calling for something to drink. (Glass, 2007, p. 113)

Dickens’ description also gives vivid detail to the effect that Lane’s dancing had on those in his audience, touching on one of the greatest reasons for dance performance: the positive lifting of spirits for both dancers and their audiences.

Lane is often referred to as Master Juba. As described by Katherine Dunham, a famous 20th century black dancer, choreographer and anthropologist, “In its original African form, the Juba or Jumba or Majumba, as it is called in the West Indies, is primarily a competitive dance of skill. One person steps forward in the circle of dancers and begins exhibiting his skill…The people in the circle…all the while clapping rhythmically and encouraging the competitors with song and verse” (cited in Glass, 2007, p. 113). “Juba” was a title given to whoever was the star dancer of Five Points at any given time. Though the name was passed to others, William Lane is the star performer who permanently appropriated it (i.e. took the name and kept it as his own.)

It was unusual for white audiences to view black dancers as described above. More usual was the viewing of white performers pretending to be black.

Tom Rice aka "Jim Crow"

A story is told of a white variety performer (Man A from above) who was performing in Louisville, Kentucky in 1828. Behind the theatre was a stable owned by a man named Crow. As was the custom, the old negro slave working at the stable was named for his master. He went by the name Jim Crow. Rice watched the decrepit slave with interest as he performed the dance and song detailed in the introduction above. Rice copied the movements, blacked his face and turned the song and dance into a theatrical act that delighted audiences. He is credited with popularizing minstrelsy. “Jim Crow” became a name synonymous with segregation and later the “Jim Crow laws” were named after the caricature made famous by Rice. The picture to the left became the icon for the laws. Jim Crow laws were enacted to provide local and state guidelines for “separate but equal” public services and facilities for African Americans and white Americans in the South. Lynchings and Jim Crow segregation were largely responsible for the immigration of blacks to the northeast states, such as New York.

Minstrelsy gained momentum as black southerners began to immigrate north. After slavery was abolished, many blacks fled from the horrors of unpunished lynchings. White American citizens in the north, who had fought against slavery, were not necessarily ready for equal rights. Many of them had no idea what a “negro” was like. Fear of the unknown laid the emotional groundwork for minstrel shows. The stereotypes of blacks as lazy, entertaining simpletons reassured white audiences that blacks were safe at the same time that these stereotypes cemented white views that blacks were stupid and unmotivated.

As America struggled to establish an identity independent of Europe, nationalism depended on strict definitions of who Americans were (Europeans who came to America) and who they were not (everyone else). Also established early on was the concept of “all men were created equal” and exactly who those men would be (e.g. not native Americans, blacks, Asians, Irish or women) (Knapp, 2005). This American power structure was cemented in the Constitution, providing a central tenant for the governance of America. Lesser groups would have to battle to adjust these early ideas and their subsequent policies.

Women, both black and white, performed in minstrel shows. Although female characters were often portrayed by men dressed as women, the mixed gender of the audience enabled female performers to dance and sing, with and without burnt cork. Worth noting is the fact that dark-skinned black women were considered threatening. It was more common for white or mulatto [person whose ancestors include both black and white individuals] female performers to appear on stage.

Ned Wayburn's Minstrel Misses (July 27, 1903), a feature act conceived as one single scene, had a chorus of seventeen “young and comely girls” march on stage wearing long coats of fantastic design and military caps and play brass instruments. The dancers, in full view of the audience, retired to little tables at the rear of the stage and proceeded to “make up” as “darkies.” A minstrel show followed, as “the grinning colored minstrels” sat in a semicircle playing tambourines and bones, then performing with songs and dances until the finale song, called “My Dixieland Daisy.” (Hill, 2010, p. 32)

Wayburn’s dancers performed dances that most likely incorporated the jig and clogging steps, dances Wayburn picked up while playing piano and performing in a minstrel show. The Irish jig and clogging were two major contributors to what would become tap dance.

Langston Hughes, a black writer and poet, wrote about the emotional context of minstrelsy:

Because my mouth

Is wide with laughter

And my throat

Is deep with song,

You do not think

I suffer after

I have held my pain

So long?

Because my mouth

Is wide with laughter

You do not hear

My inner cry?

Because my feet

Are gay with dancing,

You do not know

I die?

-Langston Hughes

The Dream Keeper

(cited in Emery, 1988, p. iv)