How "Aunt Jemima" Pancake & Syrup Products Got That Name (The 19th century song "Old Aunt Jemima")

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision- April 15, 2021

This pancocojams post provides information about how the Aunt Jemima pancake and syrup products got that name.

This post also provides text examples of the 19th century American song "Old Aunt Jemima".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners

Thanks to all those who collected these songs. Thanks also to all who are quoted in this page.
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Click for the closely related pancocojams post entitled 

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CONTENT UPDATE (April 15, 2021)
From https://wiki2.org/en/Aunt_Jemima
"Aunt Jemima is a brand of pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast foods. The pancake mix was developed in 1888–1889 by the Pearl Milling Company and advertised as the first ready-mix.[1][2] The Aunt Jemima character is based on the enslaved "Mammy" archetype.[3][4] The "Aunt Jemima Doctrine" in US trademark law originates in a 1915 case between the pancake mix company and an unrelated seller of pancake syrup. The brand has been owned by the Quaker Oats Company since 1926.[2]

Nancy Green portrayed Aunt Jemima at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, one of the first Black corporate models in the United States.[1] Subsequent advertising agencies hired dozens of actors to perform the role as the first organized sales promotion campaign.[5]

Since its debut, the character has been criticized as an example of exploited African American women. "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used as a female version of the derogatory epithet "Uncle Tom" or "Rastus". In June 2020, Quaker Oats announced that the Aunt Jemima brand would be retired "to make progress toward racial equality."[6] They subsequently announced in February 2021 that the line will be re-branded in June 2021 as Pearl Milling Company after the original owners of the pancake mix.[7]
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This is the end of this April 15, 2021 content update.

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THE MEANINGS OF THE NAME "JEMIMA"  
The female name "Jemima" means "dove" in Hebrew and "little dove" in Arabic.

Also, "Jemimah" was the name of the first daughter of  Job (in the Holy Bible):

Job 42:14-15 New International Version (NIV)

"The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers".

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THE MEANING OF THE TITLE "AUNT" FOR BLACK WOMEN IN 19TH CENTURY UNITED STATES"
In the 19th century the title "Aunt" was used in the United States for elderly Black women in place of the title "Mrs." since "Mrs" was reserved for White women only.

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INFORMATION & EXAMPLES OF "OLD AUNT JEMIMA"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Aunt_Jemima
"Old Aunt Jemima" was a popular American song composed by African American comedian, songwriter and minstrel show performer Billy Kersands (c. 1842–1915). The Old Aunt Jemima song was the inspiration for the Aunt Jemima brand of pancakes, as well as several characters in film, television and on radio named "Aunt Jemima".

Kersands wrote his first version of "Old Aunt Jemima" in 1875. It was to become Kersands' most popular song. Robert Toll claimed that Kersands had performed this song over 2000 times by 1877.[1] There were at least 3 different sets of "Old Aunt Jemima" lyrics by 1889.[2]

Often "Old Aunt Jemima" would be sung while a man in drag playing the part of Aunt Jemima performed on stage. It was not uncommon for the Aunt Jemima character to be played by a white man in blackface.[2][3]

Other minstrels incorporated Aunt Jemima into their acts, so Aunt Jemima became a common figure in minstrelsy. Other songs about Aunt Jemima were composed, such as "Aunt Jemima Song" and "Aunt Jemima's Picnic Day".[2]

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From http://black-face.com/billy-kersands.htm
..."Billy Kersands was the most popular minstrel star and the highest paid black entertainer of the era, earning as much as one hundred dollars a week---a lot of money in the 1870s and 1880s. Kersands was a comedian who enjoyed entertaining the public. But his real forte was dancing. He was credited as being the first dancer to introduce the "soft-shoe" dance, and the "buck and wing." He was also instrumental in introducing the African-American "clog-dance."

Perhaps the most enduring “mammy” icon is Aunt Jemima. Billy Kersands, a black minstrel performer, wrote the song “Aunt Jemima” for a white minstrel artist in 1875. The song was performed in 1889 with a man named Chris Rutt in the audience. Rutt, seeing an opportunity for commercializing the Aunt Jemima character, went on to trademark the name and sold it to The Davis Company. Davis eventually hired a former enslaved woman named Nancy Green to sell their company’s pancakes at the Chicago Exposition in 1893. The "mammy" icon of Aunt Jemima has lived far beyond the minstrel song.

"He began entertaining in the South, probably before the Civil War and remained a working entertainer for more than 60 years, most of them spent in minstrelsy.

Kersands' popularity with Southern black audiences was unsurpassed, and he demonstrated that a nineteenth-century black entertainer could become rich and famous...

So successful was Billy that he and [his wife] Louise [toured for their minstrel company's performances] throughout the heartland of the USA in their private railway car, and they and their company were booked in Europe during much of the 1907-09 period, which included a command performance for Queen Victoria."...

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TEXT EXAMPLES OF "AUNT JEMIMA"
These examples are presented in chronological order based on the example's collection or original publication.

Example #1:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Aunt_Jemima

[Note this page indicates that Billy Kersands composed "Aunt Jemina" as early as 1875. However, this may not be the earliest version of that song.]

"OLD AUNT JEMIMA
One version of "Old Aunt Jemima" began with a stanza expressing dissatisfaction with the dullness of worship services in white churches, such as a complaint about the length of the prayers. The song ended with the following two stanzas:

The monkey dressed in soldier clothes,
Old Aunt Jemima, etc.
Went out in the woods for to drill some crows,
Old etc.
The jay bird hung on a swinging limb.
Old etc.
I up with a stone and hit him on the shin.
Old etc.

Oh, Carline, oh, Carline,
Can't you dance the bee line
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

The bullfrog married the tadpole's sister,
Old etc.
He smacked his lips and then he kissed her,
Old etc.
She says if you love me as I love you,
Old etc.
No knife can cut out love in two.
Old etc.

Some variants of the song substituted "pea-vine" for "bee line". Another version included the verse:

My old missus promise me,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
When she died she-d set me free,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
She lived so long her head got bald,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
She swore she would not die at all,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh![2]

Sterling Stuckey [cultural historian and author of the 1988 book Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America] maintains that Kersands did not write all of these lyrics, but adapted many of them from "slave songs" (such as field hollers and work songs).[2]"
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Here's a comment (from the Mudcat folk music forum discussion thread whose link is given below) about the "My old massa promised me/when I die, he'll set me free" verse:
"The 'promised me' verse in various forms appears in minstrel songs as early as 1845.
Massa and misse promised me
When they died they'd set me free
Massa and misse dead and gone
Here's old Sambo hillin' up corn."

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Example #2:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=128733 "Lyr Add: Old Aunt Jemima & Aunt Jemima's Plaster" [hereafter known as Mudcat: Aunt Jemima"], posted by Q, 10 Apr 10 - 04:30 PM

"OLD AUNT JEMIMA
(Words and music James Grace, 1876)

1
I went to de church de other night,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
To hear de colored folks sing and pray,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
Old Pomp got tight, and Dinah walk along,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
And made old Gumbo sing a song,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

Chorus
Car'line, Car'line, can't you dance de peavine,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

2
Dar was a bullfrog dressed in soldier clothes
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
He went out to drill dem crows,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
But de bullfrog he made such a mighty splutter,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
Dat I up wid my foot and kicked him in de water,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
3
I carried a hen coop on my knee,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
'Twas nothing but a rooster saying his prayers,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
He gave out a hymn, such a getting up stairs,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

Many verses, often floaters, linked by 'Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!, sung by various minstrel groups.

Verses above by James Grace, for banlo [sic] accompaniment by George C. Dobson.
Sheet music 1876, John F. Perry & Co., Boston.
American Memory."
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Notice that although documentation now credits the first version of this minstrel song to African American entertainer Billy Kersands, various White men, inluding James Grace, copyrighted versions of that song.

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Example #3
AUNT JEMIMA
From Thomas W. Talley [editor], Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise, originally published in 1922, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm The Project Gutenberg EBook of Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes [p. 107]

OLD AUNT JEMIMA
OLE Aunt Jemima grow so tall,
Dat she couldn' see de groun'.
She stumped her toe, an' down she fell
From de Blackwoods clean to town.

W'en Aunt Jemima git in town,
An' see dem "tony" ways,
She natchully faint an' back she fell
To de Backwoods whar she stays.
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This version documents the disdain that African Americans who lived in the city had for African Americans who lived in the country. "Tony" here means "citified", "snobbish", and "snotty".

Similar attitudes of disdain for rural Americans is reflected in White depictions of "hillbillies". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/shared-steroptypes-for-hillbillies.html for the pancocojams post "The Shared Steroptypes For Hillbillies & African Americans".

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Example #4
From Mudcat: Aunt Jemima, posted by Joe Offer, 14 Apr 10 - 03:51 AM

Margaret MacArthur sang it to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

AUNT JEMIMA

Aunt Jemina climb a tree
She had a stick to boost her,
There she sat a-shelling corn
For our old bob tailed rooster.

CHORUS
Humpty Doodle skiddlebing
Humpty Doodle Daddy,
Humpty Doodle skiddlebing
Wax for Torttle-addy

Corn cobs will twist your hair
Cart wheels around you,
Fiery dragons scare you off
And mortar pestles pound you.
CHORUS

Aunt Jemima's dead and gone
It's hard to tell the story,
They put the plaster on her back
And threw her up to glory.
CHORUS

Sheepskin, bees wax
Makes the sticky plaster,
The more we try to pull it off,
The harder it sticks the faster.
CHORUS

Tune: Yankee Doodle Dandy
From the singing of Mrs. Austin Nichols, Guilford, Vermont; verses three and four from Jean Chase, Putney, Vermont.

Source:
Album notes from Folksongs of Vermont, a Folkways LP by Margaret MacArthur.
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Notice that this example includes a verse of the "Aunt Jemima's Plaster" song.

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Visitor comments are welcome.

The Pigeon Wing, The Buck & Wing, And Buck Dancing, Part I (information & videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision -April 28, 2024

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the 19th century dance known as the "buck & wing", and the "buck jumping" dances may be derived from it or whose terms are sometimes mistaken for it.

Part I provides information about & video demonstrations of buck & wing, buck jumping, and several wing movements in tap dancing.

Part II of this series presents information of and several videos of New Orleans "buck jumping" (also referred to as "second lining" and "footwork" (although the  term "footwork" may refer to very similar but also different types of dancing and/or competitive dance activities).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-orleans-buck-jumping-information.html for Part II.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owner.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who were associated with the videos that are included in this post.

Disclaimer: I'm not a dancer or a dance historian. My comments are shared in the interest of eliciting more information & opinions about this subject.

Update: October 12, 2014
"Buck dancing" ("buck jumping") as described in this post isn't the same as the contemporary African American dance movement called "bucking". "Bucking" is probably a new name for the very old African originated dance move that consist of pelvic pops.

It appears that the Houston, Texas group X-Treme Motion was the first to popularize "bucking" on television. That group competed on the 2010 television show "America's Best Dance Crew. Here's a link to a January 4, 2010 video of X-Treme motion and the publisher's Trecia KneCole Fan Page's summary statement:
"X-Treme Motion Dance Crew is a Houston Based Crew from "The Motion of the Ocean" Majorettes at Texas Southern University.. They specialize in Hip-Hop, Jazz, Ballet, Funky Jazz, and Modern. But, Showcasing and bring their own dance style called "Bucking" to the forefront."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apu78i3-K1s.

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INFORMATION ABOUT BUCK & WING AND BUCK DANCING
These comments are posted in no particular order & are given numbers for referral purposes only.

Notice the different descriptions in these quotes about what a "wing" was. My take on these descriptions is  that the wing started out as flapping the arms and minstrelsy & vaudeville changed it to flapping a leg.
Comment #1: Tap roots: The Early History Of Tap Dancing
by Mark Knowles (McFarland & Company Jefferson, North Carolina May 2002)
Page 44
"Old style buck dancing consisted mainly of stamps and chugs, sometimes embellished with toe bounces. The origins of buck dancing are unclear, but sources indicate that it has many elements in common with the Cherokee stomp dance. There is conjecture that it is also related to the ceremonial dances in which Indians braves would put on the antlers and skin of a male deer...

One of the most popular buck dances among African American slaves was the pigeon wing (also called the chicken wing), When performing the pigeon wing, dancers strutted like a bird and scrapped their feet, while their arms bent at the sides, were flapped like wings. When interviewed for the Virginia’s Writers Project, ex-slave Fannie Berry described the pigeon wing thus:
"Dere was cuttin’ de pigeon wings-dat was flippin’ you arms an legs roun’ an’ holdin ya neck stiff like a bird do.” "

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Comment #2: Lynne Fauley Emery's 1989 book Black Dance: From 1619 to Today (page 90) 
"The Pigeon Wing appears to have been performed over a large geographical area. References were made to the Pigeon Wing from South Carolina to Texas, and from Indiana to Mississippi. Horace Overstreet, of Beaumont, Texas, remembered the dance by another name. Overstreet stated that on Christmas and July 4, a big dance would be held on their plantation. '...jus' a reg'lar old breakdown dance. Some was dancin' Swing de Corner, and some in de middle de floor cuttin' de chicken wing.

Fannie Henry described the Pigeon Wing as follows: "Dere was cuttin' de pigeon wings-dat was flippin' yo arms an' legs roun' an' holdin' ya' neck stiff like a bird do."

The Pigeon Wing and the Buck dance appear as authentic dances of the Negro on the plantation, much before they were picked up for the minstrel shows and billed as the "Buck and Wing"."

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Comment #3: From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buckw1.htm
"Buck dancing is a pre-tap dance routine that was done by Minstrels and Vaudeville performers in the mid nineteenth century portraying the African American males known as “bucks.” Originally, the pigeon wing step (foot shaking in the air) was a big part of this early folk dance but later separated when variations began such as the shooting out of one leg making a “Wing”....

The legendary dancer “Master Juba”* did a buck and a wing in the 1840s. It was said that the first buck & wing routine was performed on the New York stage in 1880 by James McIntrye as well as inventing the “Syncopated Buck & Wing”…

The Buck and Wing was adapted to the Minstrel stage from the recreational clogs and shuffles of African Americans...

Buck: Rhythm and Percussive. Originally just a stamping of the feet to interpret the music which later became much more refined when mixed with the Jig and Clog. Buck dancers danced alone and in a small area of space...

Flatfoot is mostly Buck dancing... but much more laid back in which the soles of the feet stay very close to the floor and without the soles of the dancers’ shoes making much noise, nor stomping. The flatfoot dancer seems relaxed and carefree while he or she dances, even though the feet are constantly moving. If you can imagine a “soft shoe” Buck dance. This dance is a spot dance (done in place) with the arms moving only slightly to flow with the dancer’s balance giving them a fluid look. If more than one person wants to dance at the same time, they each dance individually, i.e. “freestyle”, but still adhere to the rhythm of the music being played...

Pigeon wing (1830s) was originally just shaking one foot in the air...
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*”Master Juba” was Black. My assumption is that James McIntrye was also Black.

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Comment #4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clogging
"Solo dancing (outside the context of the big circle dance) is known in various places as buck dance, flatfooting, hoedown, jigging, sure-footing, and stepping…One source states that buck dancing was the earliest combination of the basic shuffle and tap steps performed to syncopated rhythms in which accents are placed not on the straight beat, as with the jigs, clogs, and other dances of European origin, but on the downbeat or offbeat, a style derived primarily from the rhythms of African tribal music.[16]

Buck dancing was popularized in America by minstrel performers in the late 19th century. Many folk festivals and fairs utilize dancing clubs or teams to perform both Buck and regular clogging for entertainment.

Traditional Appalachian clogging is characterized by loose, often bent knees and a "drag-slide" motion of the foot across the floor, and is usually performed to old-time music."
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That Wikipedia page also includes theories about the source of the word “buck”.

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1:Thomas F. DeFrantz: Buck, Wing and Jig



Duke University,Published on Mar 26, 2012

How did dances on slave plantations develop into the Charleston and the Kid n' Play? DeFrantz demonstrates three traditional African American social dances.

Learn more. Thomas F. DeFrantz discusses dance, technology and African American culture.
http://today.duke.edu/2012/03/thomasdefrantz
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This demonstration video focuses on three social dances that emerged in the 19th century and became very important.

Here are excerpts of Thomas F. DeFrantz's comments:
Buck, wing, and jig are dances were developed by African Americans outside of the eyes of the clergy and the White slave owners who were only interested in dances that could be tied to Christian movements...

Buck dances were forms that were very very percussive, and weighted down into the foot.
All these dances are about rhythm and percussion.

Wing dances are very important and have a lot more visibility in the 20th century and on into the 21st century. Wing dances are dances were you literally flap parts of your body like ..as if they were wings. (shown flapping; spreading wide] his arms and his legs]...So you can see how 150 years later in the 21st century the wing dances could become popping.

Jig dances are dances that have lots and lots of energy and lots of velocity. So if you put jigs and wings together we get something that we might recognize as footwork or something we might recognize as the Charleston or the Kid n Play. Or if we go back to the wing, we’d get something that we might have known or heard of called The Butterfly."
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Here’s a portion of the comment that I posted on this video's viewer comment thread:
“Prior to viewing this video, I hadn't connected historically Black Greek letter fraternity & sorority steppin' to 19th century Buck dances. Buck dancing seems also to be a source of foot stomping routines that once were informal recreational activities for (mostly) Black girls & now are being incorporated into some pre-university mainstream cheerleading routines. Those 2 movement arts also may incorporate body patting (pattin Juba).”

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Video #2: Buck Dancing at Mabry Mill



slockamy2, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2011

Jay Bland & Thomas Maupin buck dancing at Mabry Mill July 4th weekend. They are both champion dancers, (state & national) & we were fortunate to be there the same time as they were.

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Video #3: Over the Top Be-Bop: Honi Coles & Cholly Atkins.



crackedoreo,Uploaded on Sep 12, 2011

A discussion of the history of tap dance with Marshall Stearns. Charles (Honi) Coles and Charlie Atkins demonstrate various dance steps such as: "over the top," "bebop, " "buck and wing, " and "slow drag."
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The demonstration of several “wings” steps starts at 8:59.

One of the observers who introduces this segment said “There are apparently as many wings as there are time steps”.,

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RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/various-late-19th-century-early-20th.html "Various Late 19th Century & Early 20th Century African American Bird Dances"

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This concludes Part I of this series.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Various 19th Century & Early 20th Century African American Dances (Buck, Wing, Pigeon Wing, & Eagle Rock)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: September 10, 2018

This pancocojams post was originally titled "Various 19th Century & Early 20th Century African American Bird Dances". I changed that title since some of the dances covered in this post are documented as being performed in the early and mid 19th century United States. I also changed the title since all of the dances showcased in this post aren't "bird dances".

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This post provides information about various 19th century & early 20th century African American bird dances. The dances described in this post are "The Buzzard Lope", [Cutting] The Pigeon Wing, the "Buck & Wing", and "The Eagle Rock".

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

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INFORMATION ABOUT VARIOUS 19th & early 20th CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICAN BIRD DANCES
(The information about these dances are posted in what I believe is their relative chronological order with the oldest dances given first.)

THE BUZZARD LOPE
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buzzardlope1.htm
"The Buzzard Lope was similar to the more modern Eagle Rock Dance and was very popular in the South and most likely related to the W. African Buzzard dance. Sunbury Georgia was the first discovery of this dance but may not have originated there.

The Buzzard Lope used outstretched arms like a bird and consisted of a shuffle step and a little buzzard like hop. The dance is said to be similar to the West African Buzzard Dance. It's [sic] original form is representing a Turkey Buzzard getting ready to eat a dead Mule (some report a Cow). Many people in the sidelines watching the dance would do a 'Patting', or make a rhythm by slapping (patting) their thighs, etc. while someone would call out the cues...

The Eagle Rock replaced the Buzzard Lope in popularity as the buzzard lope was considered to risque as well as [too connected to] Plantation life by city folk."
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[This site gives 1890 as the first documented date for "The Buzzard Lope"].

Here's a video of a depiction of "The Buzzard Lope":

Throw Me Anywhere Lord



Uploaded by mediageneration on Dec 12, 2009

Georgia Sea Island Singers from the DVD- The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes- available from http://www.media-generation.com

Comment:
"The dance is called the Buzzard Lope, and John Davis is the buzzard circling the carrion and picking it up at the end of the song".
-mediageneration; 20104
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The producer of this video indicated that the man dancing said that if he had worn his jacket, you could have seen the arm flapping movements better.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/07/throw-me-anywhere-lord-buzzard-lope.html for the lyrics to the song "Throw Me Anywhere Lord" and an explanation of the song's meaning.

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CUTTING THE PIGEON WING & THE BUCK & WING
Excerpt #1:
From Tap roots: The Early History Of Tap Dancing
by Mark Knowles (McFarland & Company Jefferson, North Carolina May 2002)
Page 44
"Old style buck dancing consisted mainly of stamps and chugs, sometimes embellished with toe bounces. The origins of buck dancing are unclear, but sources indicate that it has many elements in common with the Cherokee stomp dance. There is conjecture that it is also related to the ceremonial dances in which Indians braves would put on the antlers and skin of a male deer.

Most authorities believe that the buck dance was the forerunner of the time-step. The connection with the term “wing” as in “buck and wing” generally suggest that wild footwork was accompanied by a flapping of the arms, and that the steps were syncopated. At the turn of the 19th century buck and wing was used as a sort of catch-all phrase for many forms of percussive dance.

One of the most popular buck dances among African American slaves was the pigeon wing (also called the chicken wing), When performing the pigeon wing, dancers strutted like a bird and scrapped their feet, while their arms bent at the sides, were flapped like wings. When interviewed for the Virginia’s Writers Project, ex-slave Fannie Berry described the pigeon wing thus:
"Dere was cuttin’ de pigeon wings-dat was flippin’ you arms an legs roun’ an’ holdin ya neck stiff like a bird do.”

...the pigeon wing imitated the courting of birds. The movements, scrapping the feet and fluttering the arms had been part of the juba and survived on their own to be one of the most popular steps among African Americans. Early minstrels used the dance often and expanded it with more elaborate foot shaking."

**
Pancocojams Editor's Note and Excerpt #2
There are a number of references to the "buck & wing" and "[cutting] the pigeon's wing in folk songs. In his 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes Thomas W. Talley writes that 'cuttin the Pigeon's wing' and 'skinnin' the cat' in the song "Juba" refer to dance steps. [end of quote].

Too often these words are taken literally.

Here's a quote about cutting the pigeon's wing & the buck and wing dances from Lynne Fauley Emery's 1989 book Black Dance: From 1619 to Today(page 90):
"The Pigeon Wing appears to have been performed over a large geographical area. References were made to the Pigeon Wing from South Carolina to Texas, and from Indiana to Mississippi. Horace Overstreet, of Beaumont, Texas, remembered the dance by another name. Overstreet stated that on Christmas and July 4, a big dance would be held on their plantation. '...jus' a reg'lar old breakdown dance. Some was dancin' Swing de Corner, and some in de middle de floor cuttin' de chicken wing.' ...

The Pigeon Wing and the Buck dance appear as authentic dances of the Negro on the plantation, much before they were picked up for the minstrel shows and billed as the "Buck and Wing"."

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Excerpt #3
THE EAGLE ROCK
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3eaglerock1.htm
"The Eagle rock is basically a dance movement, extending their arms in the “eagle wing”.... The head tilts back while the body sways back and forth...

The Eagle rock originally had a hop to it but as it spread north and south it was discarded in favor of a shuffle. The Eagle rock started to wane in popularity in the 1920s."
-snip-
This site also provides several theories about the source of the dance name "The Eagle Rock". However, I'm not convinced about the credibility of those theories.
-snip-
This site provides the date of the 1900s for the first documentation of this dance.

An additional comment about "The Eagle Rock" is included in the section above on "The Buzzard Lope".

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Excerpt #4:
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buckw1.htm Buck Dance and Pigeon Wing
"This page deals with all things Buck or Wing. The history of the Buck dance, Flat Footing, Pigeon Wing, and Wings. Buck dancing is a pre-tap dance routine and was done by Minstrel and Vaudeville performers in the mid nineteenth century portraying the African-American males, known as "Bucks." Originally the Pigeon Wing steps (foot shaking in the air) were a big part of this early folk dance but later separated when variations began such as the shooting out of one leg making a "Wing."

[...]

Buck: (Buck dance)
Rhythm and Percussive, originally just a stamping of the feet to interpret the music which later became more refined when mixed with the Jig and Clog. Buck dancers usually dance alone and in a small area of space. In Tap Dance it is known as the earliest version of the "Shuffle and Tap Steps." The basic Chug or Buck step is done by pushing the ball of the foot across the floor, at the same time dropping the heel, with or without weight. Buck dancing was the first known American Tap form performed to syncopated rhythms. These rhythms were performed on the "Offbeat or Downbeat" which came from Tribal rhythms in Africa. Buck dance was a type of countrified Clog or Tap dance. Usually associated with Barn Dancing or Country Dance. The Indians (Mainly Ute), also had a dance, participants would dress in Deer Skins (Buck) and do a ceremonial dance called Buck Dancing.

Originally the music used was 2/4 time and was of the Syncopated March type. The Mobile Buck was an ancestor of the common Buck Dance that later evolved into the Time Step.

Flatfoot:
Flatfoot dancing is mostly Buck dancing in nature, but much more laid back in which the feet stay very close to the floor and without the soles of the dancers shoes making much noise, nor stomping. The flatfoot dancer seems relaxed and carefree while he or she dances, even though the feet are constantly moving. If you could imagine a "soft-shoe" Buck dance. This dance is a spot dance (done in place) with the arms moving only slightly to flow with the dancers balance which gives them a fluid look. If more than one person wants to dance at the same time, they each dance individually i.e. freestyle, but still adhering to the rhythm of the music being played.

Pigeon Wing:
Originally (1830's) just the shaking of one leg in the air. Was also known as the "Ailes De Pigeon" in Ballet. For a time it was commonly referred to as ">Pistolets" by the French and just plain ole "Pigeon Wing" by the Folk dancers, later being taken over by the Minstrel dancers. In the Can-Can the "Pigeon Wing" was bringing the bust into play by leaping forward, kicking high and throwing the shoulders back while "carrying on the arm" (or holding one leg up against the cheek, while hopping lightly on the other leg). Basically it's just the lifting of the leg (demi-Plie') and move the leg too beat the back calf of the other foot. Can be done in front of other leg or as in the variation of Michael Jackson's modern version of his front lifting leg swing. When Minstrel dancing came en vogue, many variations came about, namely a small hop on one leg while shooting out the other leg to form a "Wing."

Wings:
Wings Evolved into a waving of the body with arms and legs flapping to appear like wings on a bird ... which makes the Buck, Tap, Hip-Hopper, Charleston, Jig dancer more animated. The more modern "Wings" started to become a basic stable to tap dancing around 1900. "Wings" are basically derived from the much older minstrel variations of the Pigeon Wing but no real air step. Eventually becoming what they'd call "air steps" (not adagio), and even later "Flash/Shine steps" that have the dancer springing up from one leg off the floor, and using the correct timing to do a certain amount of taps with the same foot before landing back down while the other "winging leg" usually remains motionless. There are variations such as the pump (winging leg goes up and down), double back, pendulum, Three-tap wing (one tap on the way up and two on the way down), Five-tap wings, etc. Today Wings are part of the Tap dance family.

Don't be surprised if you see a Buck or Flatfoot dancer bring a $mall portable dance floor or plywood, lay it down on the ground and start dancin' away. Music is often times a string band. A great DVD on this subject is "(2007) by Smithsonian Folkways dvd $ Talking Feet: Solo Southern Dance - Flatfoot, Buck and Tap" (2007) by Smithsonian Folkways."
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Videos of these dance movements are included on that page.

I added italics to highlight these sentences.

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RELATED LINKS
Here are links to other pancocojams posts in this series:

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/african-roots-of-wing-flapping-dances.html "African Roots Of African American Arm Flapping Dances"

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-turkey-trot-dance-descriptions.html

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/05/rufus-thomas-crowd-control-at-wattstax.html "Rufus Thomas & Crowd Control At Wattstax (The Funky Chicken Dance)"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS
Thanks to the creators of these dances, to those whose comments are quoted in this post, and those who are showcased in these featured videos. Thanks also to the uploaders of these videos.

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