Games Played by Enslaved Black Children In 19th Century United States (Book Excerpt)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides an excerpt from the section "The Play Of Slave Children" in "The Antebellum Period" chapter in the 2002 book Black Recreation: A Historical Perspective, edited by Jearold Winston Holland  (Burnham Publishers, 2002)

This excerpt is given without citation sources. 

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners. 

Thanks to the unknown creators of these games, and thanks to the memories of all the enslaved people ho played them. Thanks to Jearold Winston Holland for his research and writing and thanks to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post.

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BOOK EXCERPT 
from the section entitled "The Play Of Slave Children" in Jearold Winton Holland's 2002 book Black Recreation: A Historical Perspective

[page] 95

.."The lives of most slave chilren changed drastically and significanly when they became old enough, big enough, and strong enough-generally between twelve and seventeen years of age-to join their fellow slaves in plantation work. Up until this time most children were fairly free to engage in typical childhood activities, sometimes having most of the day free. (80) However, unde some masters, slave children might be required to work much earlier.

[...]

Indeed, many slave children were required to work to earn their keep. Children, sometimes younger than six years old, performed a number of regular work-related tasks.  One young girl recalled having to keepwatch over the crop or livestock on the plantation by chasing away cows and keeping the animals from trambling through the plantation fields. Other youngster weeded,  

[page] 96

gathered wood, and plucked caterpillars from plans to six days each week. (83)

While their parents toiled in the fields under the hot sun, most children were essentially left alone to play and raise each other. The older childen cared for the younger ones and for themselves/  They might also perform some non-routine jobs such as carrying water to field slaves, clening yards, fetching wood, tending gardens, and feeding livestock....

Sometimes slave children wee allowed to play with white children.  Generally, black and white children loved playing ogether, but on some plantation this was forbidden. Most often it was the slave owner who objected to the children playing together.... However, as a general rule this practice was hard to enforce, and some black and whie children played together in secrecy.

In their play with whie children, slave children sometimes received some education, perhaps learning to count.  in additio, they picked up traditional American children's games such as shooting marbles, jumping rope, throwing horseshoes, playing hopscotch or mumblety-peg, and jumping poles/

[...]

[page] 97

[....]

When the slave children played among themselvess, they had to be more creative due to the lack of play materials and equipment. They became efficient improvisers, ofen developing and naming their own gamesand activites.

[...]

Perhaps because they wee not allowed to be formally educated, slave children often kept their minds sharp through involvement in intellectual games like riddles. William Henry Towns, an Alabama slave, recalled the following riddle recited by slave children:

Slick as a mole, Black as coal,
Got a great long tail like a thunder hole (A skillet)

Crooked as a rainbow, teeth like a cat,

[page] 98

Guess all of your life but you can't guess that (A blackberry bush)  87

There is evidence to suggest that some of he slave children's games came from their African heritage/ One such game was Hen and Hawk, in which the chicks line up behind he mother hen who protects them from the hawk or old witch.  The hen says:

Chickname, chickname chime crow,
I went to de well to wash my toe;
When I came back my chick was gone.
What o'clock ol' witch?

A colloquy between the hen nd the hawk follows:

Hawk: Hen, give me your chick
Hen: Hawk, I can't giv' you a chick
Hawk: I shall have a chick
Hen: You shan't have none. 88

Many of the children's games were cooperative in naure.  The majority of these games did not have specific names and were generally called "ring games". In ring games the children often joined hands or formed circles, singing and spinning around. Much like the games of many black children today, particularly those living in large metropolitan areas, those were accompanied by a variety of songs and riddless. The hildren would typically make a circle and chant, sing, and/or dance to different rhythnic melodies. Participation in ring games continued throughout adolescence, but for the most part ring games were children's games, passed from older children to younger ones.

For slave children, there was minimal categorization of masculine or feminine play activities. 89 As the children began to grow older, ring games were often the opportunities for youngsters to learn how to inteact with the opposite sex and to assume gender roles.. Two such games wee Peep Squirrel an King William Was King George's Son. In Peep Squirrel a biy and girl stand some distance apart, facing each other.  A different girl gets behind the boy and a different boy lines up behind the girl.  The rest of the children sing the following lines while performers suit the actionto the words:

[page] 99

Peep squirrel, eedle, deedle, deele, dum
Walk around squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,
Hop aaround squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,
Skip along squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum, 
Run the squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,
Catch that squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum, 90

If the boy finally caught the girl (squirrel) he was entitled to a kiss.

In King William Was King George's Son, the children formed a ring around one child and sang:

King William was King Geoge's Son
And up from the royal race he spring;
Upon his breast he wore a star,
Three gold rings and a glittering crown.
Go choose the East, go choose the West,
Go choose the one that you love the best.
If he's not there to take your part,
Choose anothe one with all your heart.
Down on this carpet you shall kneel,
Jes shorz de grass grows in the fiel'
Salute your bride and kiss her swee,
Rise again to your feet. 91

The game would then repeat itself, the boy or girl choosing another to stand in the middle.

Another of the most popular and enduring ring games was Little Sally Walker

Little Sally Walker
Sittin in a saucer
Cryin for the old man
To come for the dollar
Ride, Sally, ride
Put your han's on your hips
Let your backbone slip,
Shake it to the East
Shake it to the West
Shake it to the one that you love the best.

[page] 100

Through some of their play, slave children were better able ro understand the world around them. A significant amound of their play involved challenging, role-playing, or reenacting events that were significant to them-as does the play of all children. However, the play of slave children presented some distinguishing features. First, they did not always reenact or reflect events found most enjoyable by adult slaves. Second, they usually imitated the social eents of their own people and not those of whites (probably due to the general resentment slaves felt toward whites)...

Slave childen also tried to relieve particular anxieies and fears through their play. One ring game was played by children forming a circcle around one child in the middle, who tries to break out of the circle singing:

Oh, do let me out! I'z in this lady's gyarden.
Oh, do let me out! I'z in this lady's gyarden.

De gate iz locked an' de wall iz high,
Round' dis lady's gyarden. Chorus.  

De gate oz lockt, an' de key iz lo'
Un dis lady's gyarden Chorus.

I mus', I will, git out er here.
Out er dis lady's gyarden. Chorus.

I'll break my neck but I'll get out er here, 
Out er dis lady's gyarden Chorus.

During this game the children in the circle danced around in time to the music while the child in the middle tried to escape by creeping under, jumping over, or breaking through the walls of the garden [the children's locked hands and arms.

[page] 101
   
Another ring game was called Good Old Egg-Bread. The leade shouted one line and the other children shouted the next.  The rhythm was strong and the children stamped their feet very energetically as they circled:

Did you go to the henhouse?
Yes, ma'am!
Did you get any eggs?
Yes' ma'am!
Did you stir it 'roun?
Yes, ma'am!
Did you bake it brow?
Yes ma'am!
Did you hand it 'roun'?
Yes ma'am?

Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!
Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!

Did you go to the lynchin?
Yes, ma'am!
Did they lynch that man?
Yes, m'am!
Did the man cry?
Yes' ma'am! 
How did he cry?
Baa, baa!"
How did he cry?
Baa, baa!

Did you go to the wedding?
Yes, ma'am!
Did you get any wine?
Yes ma'am!
Did you get any ake?
Yes ma'am!

[page] 102

How did it taste?
So good!
How did it taste!
So good!

Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!
Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!
Bow Mr. Blackgird, bow Mr. Cow
Bow Mr. Blackbird bow np mo! 95"
-snip-
This is the end of this excerpt. Other songs included in that section are "My old mistress promised me (Before she died she'd set me free" and "Run Ni&&er Run".

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