pancocojams: buck dancing

Showing posts with label buck dancing. Show all posts

Saturday, September 5, 2026

New Orleans Buck Jumping (Second Lining) definition, information, & videos (2026 Reprint)

BigRedCotton, Uploaded on Dec 24, 2009

TBC Brass Band performing Donny Hathaway's 'This Christmas' at the Big Nine 2009 Second Line Parade

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision- September 5, 2026

[This is a complete 2026 reprint of a 2024 updated version of a pancocojams post that was originally published in 2013. That post is still available on this pancocojams blog.

Corrections for the information that is given in this post are very welcome.]

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This is Part II 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.

This post features information about & 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).

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

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-pigeon-wing-buck-wing-and-buck.html for Part I of this series.

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

All copyrights remain with their owner.

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.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/09/videos-of-black-americans-in-new.html for the related 2026 pancocojams post entitled "Videos Of Black Americans In New Orleans, Louisiana Second Lining While Holding A Handkerchief".

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THE DIFFERENT MEANINGS FOR THE TERM "BUCKING"
The term "bucking" is currently used to describe a rodeo event, and three completely different African American originated dance movements.

In this pancocojams post "buck jumping" refers to New Orleans, Louisiana second lining (dance movements).

The other definitions of "bucking" refers to
1. a rodeo event.

2. "buck dancing" ("flat foot dancing" and "clogging") or the pre-tap dance movements called "buck and the wing"..

3. majorette "bucking" (as performed by Jackson State University's Prancing J-Settes, the Dancing Dolls from the television series Bring It among others). Those movements consists of rhythmic pelvic thrusts (pelvic contractions) that are done within a dance routine.

-snip-
In addition, the verb "buck" is a shortened form of the term "buck wild". The saying "Knuck if you buck" means "Fight" (Knuckle) if you have the nerve to (if you dare to; if you're crazy enough to challenge me knowing that I'm formidable and you will lose).

Also,"buck" is positive adjective that term is associated with the Hip Hop dance form "krumping"

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DEFINITIONS OF AND INFORMATION ABOUT BUCK JUMPING (SECOND LINING)
These article excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Online Source #1
From https://bittersoutherner.com/a-dance-of-liberation-buckjumping "A Dance Of Liberation"

Lily Keber’s upcoming, feature-length documentary, “Buckjumping,” will take filmgoers deep into more than a half dozen New Orleans neighborhoods, where second-line parades boost the spirits and bring communities together in a way that happens nowhere else.
-Chuck Reece; no publishing date given; 2019?

"The Oxford English Dictionary defines “buck jumping” as “a rodeo event in which a rider attempts to stay in the saddle of a bucking horse.”

The Pigeon Town Steppers, one of New Orleans’ many community-based social aid and pleasure clubs, would define buck jumping differently. They would tell you it’s the dance style associated with the city’s second line parades and that without it, New Orleans would not be New Orleans."

Online Source #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG6KH905cGU&t=30s "You better second line! Jazz funeral in New Orleans for Juanita Brooks", posted by kookydave, Oct 20, 2009
Come pay your respects like we do down here in Nawlin's. Experience a real New Orleans second line jazz funeral for the lovely and talented Juanita Brooks.
1. @wb7ptr, 2013
"The first line is the actual family of the deceased, close friends, etc. who are right up with the hearse. Not sure but I think the band is part of that as well. The second line is the people behind the band. The tradition has been around New Orleans several hundred years. Many here believe a person must EARN a jazz funeral but I'm not sure on the common thought on that. Just about any decent musician, Mardis Gras Indian or other "culture bearer" can expect one."

2. @seanlambert2865, 2015
"the first line is the family and friends who would normally dance to the music. That's why when the band plays, it's called second lining."

Reply
3. @seanlambert2865, 2015
"Well the hired musicians are usually a brass band that travel with the 1st line. The actual "second line" is made up of random musicians playing out of respect and the pure enjoyment of playing. And it's all good, it's a very beautiful thing that should be shared with everyone "

Reply
4.@amybaker4654, 2017
"Sean Lambert..Thank you for explaining that.I wondered what second lining meant."

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Online Source #3
From http://nolabounce.com/?p=4499 "Second Line Jump: New Orleans Rap And Brass Band Music" By Matt Miller; September 27, 2010
"The number of brass bands has expanded along with the proliferation of “second Line” clubs, so-called “social and pleasure” organizations which hire bands for parades. These clubs stage parades on Sunday afternoons throughout the second line “season” (which spans much of the Fall, Winter and Spring), often to celebrate the anniversary of the club’s founding. These second line parades, along with the “jazz funerals” and Mardi Gras parades that often define New Orleans in the national imagination, serve as a central venue for brass bands and play a key role in disseminating and reinforcing a commonly-held musical sensibility. To outsiders, second line parades might seem like a purely celebratory event, but they can also channel more destructive energies.

The bands are often joined by a rowdy group of spontaneous participants (often teenagers or young men) who contribute highly expressive dance and ad-hoc music-making. “Buck jumping,” an individual dance form associated with both brass bands and local rap, is one of the many features of New Orleans’s musical culture that in concept and nomenclature can be traced back to the 19th century and the era of slavery.”...
-snip-
This article was reformatted to increase its readability.

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Online Source #4
From https://gambinos.com/history-second-line/ "Jump In The Line: History of Second Lines [Gambinos Bakery"*; no publishing date given; retrieved September 17, 2023]
"Second Line Basics

For those of you who are new to the idea of a second line, at its base it is a brass band parade. The brass band usually is made up of a trumpet, a trombone, a saxophone, a tuba, a bass drum, and a snare drum, but these instruments vary depending on the band and the event. At the core of the parade is what’s called the “main line,” this includes the band itself, the krewe or club with which the band is affiliated, and in the case of funerals or weddings it includes the funeral and wedding party.

The “second line” refers to the spectators who join or follow the main line and contribute to the walking parade. This is what separates a second line from any other New Orleans parade: groups are not only welcome but encouraged to follow along, allowing the second line to grow as it marches. The term “second line” doesn’t only refer to the parade itself, it also speaks to the type of dancing you will find during those parades. “Second lining” is a highly recognizable strutting, chicken-like dance move that many people use to keep pace with the band. So “second line” is a term with many meanings; it applies to a type of parade, a part of the parade, and a dance move used within that parade.

Second lines have a multifaceted history that blends traditions of both European and African cultures and while the second line can be said to have developed in conjunction with a number of events, the one we most closely relate it to is the jazz funeral. A jazz funeral is a New Orleans tradition that has a brass band following the hearse and leading the funeral procession to the cemetery. On the march to intern the body, the brass band usually plays solemn dirges, a more classic way of experiencing a funeral. What makes the jazz funeral different from other funerals, however, is that after buying the body, the brass band transitions to upbeat, happy, and celebratory music. They lead the funeral procession away from the cemetery with a brightness that is meant to allow them to reflect on the dead’s life with joy and help them to celebrate being alive.

Second lines are still used for funerals in New Orleans, but they have evolved with a number of differences from the classic jazz funeral. Second lines tend to use upbeat songs for the entirety of their march, leaving out the dirges. Where jazz funerals are usually restricted to the family and friends of the deceased, a second line allows for others to join in, helping to celebrate and honor the life of the one who passed.

Where Do They Come From, Where Do They Go?

Most research shows the second line dating back to the mid to late 19th century, its development deeply ingrained in the African-American community in New Orleans. In large part the second line’s creation and evolution can be attributed to what we now refer to as Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs. In the period following the Civil War, African-American citizens struggled to attain proper governmental support and insurance, which incited the development of communal societies or co-ops that would provide social aid for their members. These neighborhood organizations would charge their members dues which would contribute to a fund used for basic health and funeral insurance.

One of the earliest social aid organizations was the New Orleans Freedman’s Aid Association which was founded in 1865. This specific social aid group worked to provide loans, education, and insurance to recently freed slaves in the post-Civil War era. This club, and many like it, often hosted parades and block parties to advertise their services as well as celebrate and honor members when they died. These celebrations coincided with jazz funerals and together evolved into what we now recognize as second lines.

As racial segregation began to fade in the south, the need for individualized organizations to provide insurance faded as well. This is what created the transition from social aid clubs, to pleasure clubs or benevolent societies. Contemporary Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs in New Orleans, like Zulu or the Jolly Bunch, usually don’t provide insurance anymore. Instead they are used as clubs to allow locals to engage with one another and socialize in celebratory ways. Their name, however, still references the purpose they originally served.

The Contemporary Second Line

It is New Orleans tradition to use second lines to celebrate weddings as well as funerals, but nowadays we second line for more than just these purposes. Many Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs use second lines as a way of introducing themselves to the community or providing a reason for their members to get together. It’s rare that a Sunday afternoon goes by in the French Quarter without being able to catch at least one or two second lines put on by these clubs.”…

*Here's information from that page about Gambino's Bakery
"In New Orleans and around the world, Gambino’s Bakery is a household tradition that offers over 74 years of experience with delicious baked goods."...
-snip-
Buck jumping is closely related to- if not the same as- the 21st century HIp-Hop dances known as "footwork", "gangsta walkin", "jookin", "buckin", and other terms. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangsta_Walking for information about these Hip Hop dances. That Wikipedia article traces the origin of "gangsta walkin" and suggests that dance may have "a New Orleans connection. Early gangsta-walking in Memphis was often called "buck jumping", and "buck jumping" is another name for second-lining in New Orleans.”...

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SOME INFORMATION ABOUT NEW ORLEANS SOCIAL AID AND PLEASURE CLUBS
http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/multicultural/multiculturaltraditions/socialaid.html
"Strutting and jumping and high-stepping underneath their decorated parasols, blowing whistles and waving feathered fans, the African-American members of New Orleans’ social aid and pleasure clubs are the organizers, originators, and sponsors of the second line parades for which the city is famous. The brass band that follows the parade’s grand marshal and club members, who are always dressed in coordinated suits and classy hats, blast out exuberant rhythms to propel everyone’s high-spirited march through the streets. The club and brass band are known as the first line, and the audience that forms behind the parade to join in the festivities is the second, hence the term second line parade.

African-American social aid and pleasure clubs aren’t just about parading, however. They grew out of organizations of the mid to late 1800s called benevolent societies, which many different ethnic groups in New Orleans formed. Serving a purpose that today has largely been supplanted by insurance companies, benevolent societies would help dues-paying members defray health care costs, funeral expenses, and financial hardships. They also fostered a sense of unity in the community, performed charitable works, and hosted social events. Benevolent societies always had strong support in the African-American population, and some scholars trace the roots of the African-American societies back to initiation associations of West African cultures from where the majority of New Orleans blacks originally came."
-snip-
The members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs (SAPC) & the second line paraders strut while they perform footwork that consist of particular fast hopping kinds of jumping, sometimes with leg lifts and squatting (dips). These movements typify "buck jumping".

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FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are posted in chronological order with the videos with the oldest dates posted first.

Video #1: New Orleans Secondline Dancing

SneakinSal, Uploaded on Dec 25, 2006

Secondline dancing on a porch on Washington Avenue, New Orleans. New Generation Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade, December 10, 2006.

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Video #2: Sudan 2008 Second Line featuring Rebirth

Posted by BigRedCotton, December 03, 2008
-snip-
Notice the dancer crawling under the legs of another dancer. I've seen videos in which that same dance movement in some traditional Senegalese dances. I've also noticed that movement in performed in certain videos of African American Jazz dancing (swing dancing) and in videos of African American "krumping".

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Video #3: The Hot 8 Brass Band with Ladies And Men of Unity -'Poppa Was A Rolling Stone'

Uploaded by BigRedCotton on Apr 6, 2009

Ladies and Men of Unity Social Aid and Pleasure Club 2nd Annual Second Line Uptown

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Video #4: Divine Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Club 2009 Annual Parade

Uploaded by BigRedCotton on May 17, 2009

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Video #5: Buck-jumping dance-off on Oak St. during the Pigeon Town Steppers Easter Second Line

Lisa Pal, Uploaded on Apr 5, 2010

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This concludes Part II of this series.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to those who are featured in these videos, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Monday, April 29, 2024

Some People Say That Stephen A. Smith Is A "Buck Dancer": Comments From Various YouTube Podcasts About Stephen A. Smith's Appearance On The Sean Hannity Show & His Subsequent Apologies

Roland S. Martin, April 19, 2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BlackStarNetwork #BringTheFunk

Roland Martin deconstructs Stephen A. Smith talking Trump on Fox News' Hannity.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - April 30, 2024

This is the third post in a three part pancocojams series about the African American disparaging definition of "buck dancing" and tap dancing.

This post showcases a podcast reaction video about sports celebrity's Stephen A Smith's April 18,2024 comments on Fox News' Sean Hannity's show.

This post also presents selected comments from the discussion thread of that podcast and from a six other African American podcasts. The African American host/s of these podcasts address Stephen A. Smith's appearance on Sean Hannity's show and his (Smith's) subsequent apology videos. Most of these comments include references to the African American disparaging meaning or connotation of the term "buck dance", "tap dance", or "shuckin and jivin".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/why-african-americans-equate-tap.html "Why African Americans Equate Tap Dancing With Shuckin' And Jivin' & "Uncle Tomming" for the first post in that series.

Click for the second post in that pancocojams series.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those whose podcasts associated with the YouTube podcasts that are embedded or linked in this post.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams post and Part III of this pancocojams series document a small sample of the numerous online negative comments from African Americans about African American sports commenter Stephen A Smith. My focus in these post is to document a small sample of comments that use the disparaging meanings of buck dancing or tap dancing which allude to or directly use those dance terms as metaphors for acting like a clown, acting like a fool, and/or shuckin and jivin, and/or "tomming".

Except for parts of these selected comments, neither of these two pancocojams posts present the reasons why commenters pictured or referred to Stephen A. Smith negatively as a "buck dancer" or as a "tap dancer". People who are interested in learning more about some of the reasons why so many African Americans commenters have such negative opinions about Steven A Smith are encouraged to view these showcased videos and read their discussion threads.

That said, for the record, among other things, I strongly agree with the many commenters in 2024 who lambasted Stephen A Smith for his comments comparing Trump problems with the United States criminal justice system and African Americans' treatment by the United States criminal justice system.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM VARIOUS AFRICAN AMERICAN PODCAST
This pancocojams post documents the use by African Americans of disparaging meanings of "buck dancing", "tap dancing", and "shuckin and jivin" for historical and cultural purposes. As it happens, the viral nature of the Stephen A Smith's recent controversy provides multiple online examples of the disparaging meanings of these words.

These are only a small sample of comments from six African American podcasts/vlogs on YouTube that have been published since April 18, 2024 about Stephen A Smith's comments on the Sean Hannity show and his subsequent apologies about those comments. To say that this subject has gone viral on the internet among many African Americans would be an understatement. Most of the discussion threads for these videos include disparaging references to Stephen A. Smith buck dancing or negatively refer to him as a buck dancer or tap dancer, or shuckin and jivin.

The links to the six YouTube sources for these selected comments are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only. Based on their African American hosts and their focus on African American cultural issues, my assumption is that most of the commenters in the discussion threads for these videos are African Americans.

All of these comments were published on YouTube between April 18, 2024 and April 28, 2024.

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VIDEO SOURCE #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQxCbhq2kzc

1. @Chris-po8if
"SAS BEEN Buck dancing since he came on the scene. I can't believe people are just realizing it."

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2. @missa7562
"his shucking and jiving for his friend sean hannity cost him our respect."

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3. @yennev
"Steven A Smith bugging his eyes out , Bobbing His head and Neck , Tooting out His Lips. May work on your Sports Station.! That doesn't work outside of sports.! Not a good look.!

Chucking ,Jiving , Handkerchief Head Wearing

With your LoGo behind you getting free advertising on FOXNEWS.. Sean Laughing at you. Bad look you can't take back.!"

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4. @55YoLefty
"Add SAS 2 the list of buck dancin', "yes massah", step n fetchin' ninjas. He said what he said. He should've stood on it. Shame on him. It was already hard 4 me 2 watch him on ESPN's basketball coverage. I'll never watch that dude again."

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Reply
5. @herminaedwards5242
"Good for you! Let the buck dancers dance by themselves, no props from the real black people!"

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VIDEO SOURCE #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK_SODSVetA&t=7s [This is the video that is embedded in this post.]

1. @Marie70272
"Stephen A Smith is a step- n- fetch it ..Roland broke it down for Mr. Step-N-Fetch it. Thank you Ro.

Stephen A. Smith is nothing but a “ talking head”..nothing significant comes out of his pie hole”

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2. @Async45
"He knows what he was doing"

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Reply
3. @zeezee-6
"@Async45 Yep, tap dancing for some bags"
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“Bags” here means “money”.

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4. @greatday1752
"Clowning for the GOP...HE DRANK THE KOOL AID!!!"

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VIDEO SOURCE #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLT2xx2L6zA

1.@Godfather-rn6rb
"Excellent narrative CoachD! Stephen A has long been an overpaid lip smacking Minstrel Act buffoon used for Entertaining WS."

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2. @micheleadamson9867
"Its not that he doesn't get it, he doesn't want to get it because he enjoys being a Bojangles.*"

*This is a disparaging referent for an African American tap dancer. 'Bill Robinson (1877–1949), a well respected [African ]American dancer and actor, known as "Bojangles"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Robinson

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3. @titusnixon
"When they get a head scratching, We sick boss Buffoon, they get a real one. Stephen Smith is the buck dancing champion, he’s out buck dance Jason Fatlock*. Isn’t it funny how these two buck dancers can’t stand each other. That because they both want to be that go to Ninza** that the racist can point to as their friend"
-snip-
*This is probably a purposely putdown of Jason Whitlock’s last name. Jason Whitlock is an African American conservative who Stephen A. Smith has argued with and criticized on Smith's ESPN series.

** "Ninza" is an accidental or purposely respelled form of the word "ninja". Since at least 2003, the word "ninja" has been a substitute in the United States for the "n word". Read the 2012 article entitled "Ninja: A Short History of a Less Troublesome Word"
https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/ninja-a-short-history-of-a-less-troublesome-word/ by by Alex Pappademas for information about what that author believes is the earliest use of this custom.

4. @ronaldrheinhardt3679
"Stephen A and Whitlock are racing to get into Uncle Tom’s Cabin where Justice Thomas has doors locked."

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5. MelvinHouston-ir2vj
"I lost all my respect for Stephen fetchit"

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6. @granvellhill2616
"Roland Martin crushed SAS and his nonsense as hard as the coach just did!!! SAS doesn't represent the black community he's too busy tap dancing for fox & hannity smh!!!"

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7. @benniegossett9006
"the tap dancer has always been a shoe shiner'

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9. @vallen9879
"Stephen A. Smith a Hit Dog Will Always Holla keep barking and dancing"

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10. @willkeeping1800
"Stevie boy a is just trying to show his masters that he is behind them and for them buck dancing just stay in sports and not in politics boy"

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VIDEO SOURCE #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv5oBscQN3c

1. @justtubing767
"Just go on and tap dance outside a Popeye's, Stephen."
-snip-
"Popeyes" is a brand of fast food restaurants that specializes in fried chicken. "Fried chicken" is considered to be a stereotypical "soul food" (African American) dish.

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2. @rafaelwinston1458
"Tap dancer!"

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3. @nonofyourbusiness7816
"Keep dancing sas maybe you'll find someone who believes you."

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4. @TheFragranceDressier
"88 accounts that’s all need to be said and people just ignore it amazing, this guy need to stop tap dancing about the polls. The polls also said in 2016 Hillary Clinton was up substantial and look what happened stop it stop it please."

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VIDEO SOURCE #5
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAhf7sdh6P4

1.@sharon4094
"No, your words were not taken out of context. I heard you and I was so sickened by you [emoji of pale red face] I could hardly breathe [emoji of sick face] So own up to your words because nothing you said was taken out of context. You went all in. You went there, tap dancing shoes and all SAS. You embarrassed yourself and made us look gullible and stupid. But, hey, MAGA loved it. Just look at how the far-right is praising you. I'm sure you got some new viewers out of it."

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2. @jeffgulley3261
"That ain't what black people was mad about we were mad because you compared black prosecution in American to Trump legal battles. But you what you was doing dance boy dance"

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3. @WokeOne75
"Are those tap shoes tight yet?"

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Reply
4. @DontH8DaPlayaH8DaGame
"He's wearing trumps golden sneakers"

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5. @Bdatoolman
"You are forever a sellout Stephen A keep buck dancing for the mouse you're now dismissed forever"
-snip-
"The mouse" is a referent for Disney. The "First Take" series that Stephen A. Smith hosts is on ESPN and ESPN is a part of Disney.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjOaHrMY0-w

1. @michaelcostello1485
"Stephen was on Fox and he was buck dancing for that audience. He's a [emoji of a clown]."

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #7
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuQaiD5cy8

1. @thecrow7483
"If you look closely, Stephen A is wearing a pair of gold tap dancing shoes"

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Reply
2. @virgilkennedy6692
"Gold tap dancing shoes ! [followed by multiple laughing emojis and multiple clown emojis] SAS IS A CLOWN SHOW."

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3. @ronaldmccall159
"Sir Steven A has been buck dancing a long time for Masser."

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4. @BLACK7MA
"Steven A is a buck dancing Bo Jangle sell out. let's just be honest."

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This concludes Part III of this three part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

The Disparaging Meaning Of The Term "Buck Dancing" In A 2021 Cartoon Video That Features Images Of Stephen A Smith

Mo Spears Music, Oct 23, 2021

Produced by Maurice Spears/IG maurice_spears
-snip-
The word "remix" in this video's title means that this is just one of the dissing (insult) animated videos that Maurice Spears produced of someone singing "Buck dancing". Maurice Spears customized those videos with the same person singing "buck dancing, buck, buck dancing" and with the same cartoon characters, but with the face of different people on the cartoon character's bodies.

Here's his Maurice Spears' pinned 2021 comment from that video's discussion thread:
"If you want your voice remixed into a song like this, message me on Instagram IG maurice_spears for details. I’ll make you your own personal song for a ringtone, podcast, youtube channel etc. All you need to do is record your voice on your phone and email me the file. I’ll even clean up any background noise on the recording."

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision -April 29, 2024

This is the second post in a three part pancocojams series about the African American disparaging definitions of "buck dancing" and "tap dancing".

This post showcases a 2021 animated dissin' (insult) YouTube video about that features images of African American ESPN sports commentator Stephen A Smith. This post includes a small sample of comments from that video's discussion thread. Some of these selected comments document the commenter's opinion of this video and its background 'buck dancing song". Other comments include the term "buck dancing" or related terms and/or include some of the lyrics for that "buck dancing" song. One comment in this compilation refers to Stephen A Smith being "clowned" (made fun of ) by this dissin' (insult) animated video.

As background, this post presents an excerpt of a 2023 online article about the controversy between sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and basketball player Kwame Brown.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/why-african-americans-equate-tap.html for the first post in this pancocojams series.The title of that post is "Why African Americans Equate Tap Dancing With Shuckin' And Jivin' & "Uncle Tomming ".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/stephen-smith-called-buck-dancer.html for the third post in this pancocojams series. The title of that post is "Stephen A. Smith Called A "Buck Dancer": Comments From Various YouTube Podcasts About Stephen A. Smith's Appearance On The Sean Hannity Show & His Subsequent Apologies".

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

Thanks to the Mo Spears for producing this video and sharing it on YouTube and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams post and Part III of this pancocojam series document a small sample of the numerous online negative comments from African Americans about African American sports commenter Stephen A Smith. My focus in these post is to document a small sample of comments that use the disparaging meanings of buck dancing or tap dancing which allude to or directly use those dance terms as metaphors for acting like a clown, acting like a fool, and/or shuckin and jivin, and/or "tomming".

Clippers star Paul George asked this very question when Smith joined his Podcast P show this week, and Smith quickly knew the answer. One of the videos that continues to come up is his infamous rant about the Lakers trading Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol.

“Kwame Brown, I wish I could do that over, I wouldn’t do it,” Smith said. “I know what I said. I did mean it. I ain’t going to sit here and tell you I ain’t mean the s--- I said, but I didn’t know it was gonna be like this. Remember, I said it before Twitter, Facebook. I didn’t know, 15 years later, they gonna have memes, videos. When I see what he says, I realize how hurt he is.”

[…]

In Smith’s rant about Brown, the ESPN star explained all the reasons he thinks the former NBA player is a “scrub”* and how the city of Los Angeles should be celebrating him leaving in the trade for Gasol.

[…].

Even 15 years later, this rant still gets traction on social media, but it sounds like Smith would rather have that not be the case.”…
-snip-
* Here's an African American slang definition for the word "shrub" from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scrub
"scrub=[noun] “Sports. a player not belonging to the varsity or regular team; a player who is not first-string”

[…]

Scrub is slang for someone who is just plain bad at something—a no-talent hack. This could be in sports, video games, or thanks to TLC's hit song, relationships."
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Smith for information about Stephen A Smith. That page doesn't include any mention of Stephen A Smith's controversy with Kwame Brown nor does that page mention the huge backlash among African Americans that is still ongoing (as of April 29, 2024) that resulted from Stephen A. Smith appearing on Fox News' Sean Hannity's television program on April 18, 2024 and making comments about why he thought African Americans could relate to Donald Trump being mistreated by the United States criminal justice system.

**
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Brown for information about former professional basketball player Kwame Brown.

****
WHAT "BUCK DANCING" MEANS IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS VIDEO
by Azizi Powell, 2024
The term "buck dancing" has a number of different meanings. A relatively new (late 20th/early 21st century?) African American vernacular meaning of "buck dancing" is [verb] "African Americans actually tap dancing and/or African Americans behaving in ways that can be construed as "shuckin and jivin" and/or being an Uncle Tom".

"Buck dancing" is the precursor of "tap dancing". Since at least the beginning of the 21st century, because of black faced minstrelsy, a lot of African Americans have had/still have negative opinions about buck dancing and tap dancing. These negative opinions have resulted in those dance forms being a metaphor among African Americans for a Black person who is "tomming" (acting like an Uncle Tom around and for White people, and particularly rich White people and White people in authority.

As a result, among many contemporary African Americans, saying that a Black person is "buck dancing" is a short hand way of saying that a Black person is "acting foolishly around White people; and/or "shuckin and jivin" and/or "tomming". When African Americans use the term "buck dancing", it doesn't have to mean that the person is actually dancing. Instead, this term has the same or a very similar meaning as the contemporary African American meaning of "shuckin' and jivin'.

"Shuckin and jivin" means "to act foolishly [act like a clown] around White people, particularly White people (or other people in authority)"

Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuckin%27_and_jivin%27 for more information about "shuckin and jivin".

****
SELECTED COMMENTS THAT MENTION "BUCK DANCING" AND/OR INCLUDE SOME OF THE LYRICS FOR THIS SONG

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

2021

1. @SELFTALK
"Buck dancing buck buck dancing"
-snip-
This is part of the lyrics for this animated video's song.

**
2. @tauriansims7642
"Get back to work get back to work" ️
-snip-
This is part of the lyrics for this animated video's song.

**
3. @onlyone23km
"This is a MAJOR club banger! Circa the style of 2005 to 11!"
-snip-
I believe this commenter meant that this song sounds like a major club (nightclub) hit record, and not that it actually was a major hit record..

**
4. @darrelljernigan3241
"Mo is a master of the video. Salute my brotha."

**
5. @polanadon6075
"Ooooooo myyyyy lawd, the diiissreeeespect ! Eeeeeeewwwwwwww, ah ee, ewwwwww, ah ,ee,

Eeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww,

Ah uh ha

Is dis awwww, ooo my goodness, lmfao "

**
6. @AlDoubleU
"The 1 dislike was Stephen A Smith himself. Lmfaoo"

**
7. @vernamalone958
"BUCK DANCING I like it."

**
8. @houseofkungfu2543
"This 2min must of taken hours. Theres so much imagery and catchy sound bites "buck dancin buck dancin" "

**
9. @DueceCigarillo
"I can’t wait for the tour!!!! Kwame Brown you a RockStar now!!!!!! #1 Hit Single “Buck Dancin” from the platinum bound album “Momma’s Cookin!” "
-snip-
This comments are facetious. Notice that the commenter wrote "platinum bound" album. Also, notice how the fictitious album title "Momma's Cookin" links the term "buck dancing" to "down home" African American culture. Read comment #11 for another example of what I believe is an implied connection between the word "cookin" (spelled that way) and "downhome" (Southern] African American food and other cultural indices.

**
10. @spelllegacylikedeath9957
"Prancin’ and buck dancin’"

**
11. @persistall
"buck dancin buck dancin. This is the theme from here on out for all them biskut eatin buck dancers!"

**
12. @CHERYLRGAY
"HELLO MR. SPEARS.. YOU ARE THE MAN!!!! MR. KWAME BROWN, TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL.. GOT TO WATCH IT AGAIN.. ON SUNDAY.. I HAVE A REMIX PARTY OF ALL THE MR. MAURICE SPEARS AND MR. KWAME BROWN VIDEOS!!!!"

**
13, @oliviarodrigues2323
"Ain't nothin like seeing this fool get clowned like he deserves. Comic RELIEF like WHOA Happy Diwali everyone 🇮🇳"

**
14. @DueceCigarillo
"FIRE!!!"

**
15. @rasun9169
"Yo this live KWAME need to play this on his live have you sent it to him are self talk"

**
16. @brandonroyal1255
"Breh it’s the Daffy Duck that did me in lol"

**
17. @TheBrucelee1973
"Not gonna lie but this is actually good lol funny as hell to"

**
18. @rodneyhowell7869
"Yo Maurice. This spear is str88 to the heart of buck dancer's fe real king . Stephen ass wipe Smith. As we say in the UK 🇬🇧🇬🇧 you are doneeeeee out hereeeeee.str8 BIGGGGGGG tuneee .Str88 outta London UK 🇬🇧5ive-0 Junglist 🇬🇧🇻🇨🇯🇲🇬🇧"

**
19. @Deuntae704
"Dope and funny fam"

**
20. @bgood2lifealways36
"Kwame, you have really done your homework and research on Stephen A "Snitch" Smith. Just keeping it real, and if you don't believe me, ask Max Kellerman."
-snip-
Mo Spears produced this video, not Kwame Brown. Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Kellerman for information about Max Kellerman.

**
21. @AlmightyJio
"I’m the one who asked for this"

**
22. @trutherman7848
"hey bro can you make the stephan A dancing in the soultrain line a twitter gif"

**
23. @fashawnmathews3299
"Mo spears you have done it again I love it dope beat hilarious you made my day with the laughter"

****
2022

24. @dragonchr15
""Put dem negrow in dey place....you tell em its dey fault!"

Best part... lol"
-snip-
The first line in this comment is part of the lyrics to the song that is sung in that animated video.

**
25. @lafayettebaker9860
"If I dance to this will it be considered Buck Dancing ?"

****
2023

26. @lovelygivan1442
"He's buck dancing all the way to the bank. While Kwame buck dancing in these youtube streets, looking like 7ft farmer that he tries to be but his farming career went the same way as his bsktbl career! DOWN THE DRAIN!"
-snip-
This comment was written in support of Stephen A. Smith. The first word "he" in this comment refers to that television celebrity.

**
Reply
27. @terrellewilliams2188
"Good enough to play over 10 years"

****
2024

28. @SelahKngdm, March 2024
"Always gotta revisit this classic."

****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Why Some African Americans Nowadays Equate Tap Dancing With Shuckin' And Jivin' & "Uncle Tomming

The Tap Love Tour, Oct 8, 2020

I'm a black man making thousands of dollars a year tap dancing. Does that make me an Uncle Tom?

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

Lastest edition - November 12, 2024

This is the first post in a three part pancocojams series about the African American disparaging definitions of "buck dancing" and "tap dancing".

This post showcases a 2020 YouTube video entitled "Shuckin' n Jivin' n Tap Dancin" and presents the auto-generated transcript for that video.

This post also includes some definitions for "buck dancing", "shuckin and jivin", and "tomming".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-negative-use-of-term-buck-dancing.html for the second post in this series. The title of that post is "The Disparaging Meaning Of The Term "Buck Dancing" In A 2021 Mo Spears Produced Cartoon Video of That Features Images Of Stephen A Smith."

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/stephen-smith-called-buck-dancer.html for the third post in this pancocojams series. The title of that post is "Stephen A. Smith Called A "Buck Dancer": Comments From Various YouTube Podcasts About Stephen A. Smith's Appearance On The Sean Hannity Show & His Subsequent Apologies".

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

Thanks to the legacies of past and present African American tap dancers. Thanks also to all those who are associated with this video.

****

TRANSCRIPT FOR THIS EMBEDDED VIDEO
Pancocojams Editor's Note- This is my unofficial corrections of the auto-generated transcript in English and my unofficial corrections the captions that appear on that video screen. This transcript includes changes in words and spelling as well as the addition of punctuation.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id2GeDaLxiE Shuckin' n Jivin' n Tap Dancin'

[narrator] "My name is Travis Knights and I love to tap dance."

[video clip of Angela Rye and Charlamagne Tha God, 2017, sourced from The Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM on YouTube]

Angela Rye-“Oh shout out to the dancers."

Charlamagne Tha God-"I ain't never in my goddamn life. I ain't never had to dance for no White man and my motherf’in life. When you say ”tap dance” to a Black man…

Angela Rye- He’s right. I just took him to a post traumatic stressful place. I apologize”…

[narrator] "Black people of a certain age do not like tap dance."

[video clip of Malcolm X, 1962 speech, sourced from YouTube] “Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.”

[narrator] "That is the question at the heart of the problem with the perception of tap dance in the black community. A critical mass of black people who lived in Canada and the United states during the non-violent movement and the Black power movement of the 50s 60s and 70s do not like tap dance. Iin fact, they loathe it. And they have raised their kids to have that same level of disdain."

[video clip of Karen Hunter,2020, sourced from the Karen Hunter Show on YouTube] -“I was so disgusted that so many of us don't realize how much power how much sway we have to control not just our own destiny but the destiny of the entire world.”

[Black man] - That’s right.

[Karen Hunter] – and we’ve got to, we’ve got to step into this purpose. No more placating, we ain’t got to tap dance We don’t got to shuck and jive, change our hair, our vernacular, anything. We got everything”.

Narrator- “They perceive it as demeaning. They perceive it as the ultimate metaphor for an Uncle Tom sellout."

[video clip of Jacob Black, Sr, 2020 speaking at outdoor protest rally for Breonna Taylor, sourced from the Hill, YouTube] - “Did you say her name? Don’t come bringin us that shucking and jiving stuff. Nobody’s nobody’s ready for that. We're tired of that. Don't shuck and jiving and bojangles your way across the street”.

[narrator] "He's right. Tap dance was a key feature in minstrel shows for over 100 years. These blackface minstrel shows acted as propaganda that sold the public on the idea that black people were only three-fifths human and we’re still haunted by the ideas that stem from minstrelsy today.

That's not the end of the story though. Tap dance has always been an African-American art form. Check this: After the Stone rebellion in 1739 the colonizing slaveholders banned the use of the African drum because it was understood that the Africans were communicating across plantations with them. Now without the drums those rhythms were transferred to the feet. That rhythmic expression called “buck dancing” was the precursor to tap dance,” That rhythmic expression was our link to roots that the colonial human traffickers of the time tried to sever. The expression of the dance in black spaces helped to form a highly kinetic folk culture. In the post-emancipation era the folk music that was developed in that culture is jazz.

[video clip of Max Roach Interview, sourced from “The Post Archives, on YouTube”] "Well you're absolutely right. in fact, the earlier drummers like “Papa Joe Jones and Buddy Rich-these guys were tap dancers. And good tap dancers.. I do a little of that. You know you’d see you had to be good and it was good for your feet ‘cause you were dealing with a lot of things. You see, I heard that these people were dancers and then drummers."

[Dizzy Gillespie quoted in that same video clip] – "Dancing inspired the music and music inspired the dancing.The best music is music written for dancing because dancing enhances music. Dancing enhances- Lemme write that down please [laughs]”.

[Narrator- “Jazz culture became a major export of the United States much like Hip Hop is today. Knowing all that, how can black people reclaim our history?

How can we acknowledge the past and design a future with a bold sense of agency that would make our ancestors proud?

I don’t know. I don’t have the answer to that.

But we can start with tap dance.. The form in itself is a treasure trove of black history. So let's take it back so let's make it ours again.
.
Let’s reconnect to our roots. Let's really do business with our history. Let us tell our own stories

The revolution will not be televised."

****
ADDENDUM- DEFINITIONS

Additions and corrections are welcome.

WHAT "BUCK DANCING" MEANS IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS VIDEO
by Azizi Powell, 2024
The term "buck dancing" has a number of different meanings. A relatively new (late 20th/early 21st century?) African American vernacular meaning of "buck dancing" is [verb] "African Americans actually tap dancing and/or African Americans behaving in ways that can be construed as "shuckin and jivin" and/or being an Uncle Tom".

"Buck dancing" is the precursor of "tap dancing". Since at least the beginning of the 21st century, because of black faced minstrelsy, a lot of African Americans have had/still have negative opinions about buck dancing and tap dancing. These negative opinions have resulted in those dance forms being a metaphor among African Americans for a Black person who is "tomming" (acting like an Uncle Tom around and for White people, and particularly rich White people and White people in authority.

As a result, among many contemporary African Americans, saying that a Black person is  "buck dancing" is a short hand way of saying that a Black person is "acting foolishly around White people; and/or "shuckin and jivin" and/or "tomming". When African Americans use the term "buck dancing", it doesn't have to mean that the person is actually dancing. Instead, this term has the same or a very similar meaning as the contemporary African American meaning of "shuckin' and jivin'.

"Shuckin and jivin" means "to act foolishly [act like a clown] around White people, particularly White people (or other people in authority)"

Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuckin%27_and_jivin%27  for more information about "shuckin and jivin".

**
Shuckin and jivin

The Wikipedia page for "shuckin and jivin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuckin%27_and_jivin%27  quotes this definition from the book Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens: The Persistent Dilemma in Our Schools, Herbert L. Foster writes: "Shuckin' and jivin' is a verbal and physical technique some blacks use to avoid difficulty, to accommodate some authority figure, and in the extreme, to save a life or to save oneself from being beaten physically or psychologically".

-end of quote-
As indicated in that quote "shuckin' and jivin' behavior used to be considered by African Americans as a way of surviving the oppressive conditions by pretending to fit the "Sambo"/"Coon" stereotypes about Black people. The character "Stepin Fetchit epitomizes this "shuckin and jivin' behavior. Here's an excerpt from an online article about Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985),who created and portrayed "Stepin Fetchit:

Perry was born in Key West, Florida to West Indian immigrant parents.

Perry ran away from home at 14 to join the vaudeville circuit and adopted the stage name of "Stepin Fetchit," taken from his lucky racehorse. Fetchit found his way to Hollywood in the mid 1920s and made his screen debut in The Mysterious Stranger (1927). Fetchit made an immediate impact in Hollywood and very early on in his career was hailed as one of the greatest screen comedians.

Stepin Fetchit's act continued the "trickster" tradition of slaves: outwitting their oppressors by pretending to be slow-witted and lazy, and thereby exploiting whites' sense of superiority. He became a very wealthy man portraying "the laziest human being in the world," the quintessential coon; shuffling, mumbling, slacking an dozing off whenever he could, his heavy eyelids and loose lower lop forever dangling, scratching his shaved head in befuddlement whenever a White actor upbraided or barked orders at him, as they did all the time.

He was a living cartoon coon--and the animated cartoons of his day often featured a thinly veiled Stepin Fetchit caricature that was hardly more exaggerated than his own shtick. He also spawned a legion of imitators."
-end of quote-
The "Stepin Fetchit" persona was never admired by African Americans except there was that element that it was an act which may have been necessary in those times to survive. However, it seems to me that nowadays most African Americans don't believe that that act is needed anymore. And we look down on Black men and Black woman who "shuck and jive" around White people for their own self-aggrandizement.

**
Tomming [being an Uncle Tom; Uncle Tomming"
From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Uncle%20Tom
"Uncle Tom
noun
disparaging : a Black person who is overeager to win the approval of whites (as by obsequious behavior or uncritical acceptance of white values and goals)

disparaging : a person who is overly subservient to or cooperative with authority

Uncle Tomming

intransitive verb

disparaging

to behave like an Uncle Tom"
-snip-
It used to be routine for African Americans to use the term "Aunt Jemima" as a referent for Black females who acted like "Uncle Toms". That "Aunt Jemima" referent is still used, but it seems to me that since at least the early 21st century, "Uncle Tom" has also been used as a referent for Black females.

A person who is tomming (acting like an Aunt Jemima) puts their wellbeing over any considerations for or about other Black people.

A person who is "tomming" may also shuck and jive, but there are other more "white collar"/sophisticated" ways of tomming than acting like Stepin Fetchit character.

****
This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

1972 Folkstream Article Excerpt: "Black Fife and Drum Music in Mississippi" Written By David Evan

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides a long excerpt of a 1972 Folkstream article entitled "Black Fife And Drum Music in Mississippi". In spite of its title, that article provides information about Black fife and drum music in other Southern states.

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

This excerpt is published on this blog as a means of raising awareness of this subject. Blog visitors are encouraged to read the entire hyperlinked article, including information about the the citations that aren't detailed in this excerpt.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Black fife and drum musicians for this little known part of Black culture. Thanks to David Evans for writing this article and thanks to Folkstreams for publishing it online.

****
BLACK FIFE AND DRUM MUSIC IN MISSISSIPPI
written by David Evan, 1972

From http://www.folkstreams.net/film-context.php?id=86

"One of the most interesting types of black music to have been recorded in recent years is the fife and drum band. Such a group was first found in 1942 by Alan Lomax near Sledge, Mississippi.1 Its instrumentation consisted of a cane fife, two snares, and a bass drum. Yet these same four musicians could also constitute themselves as a string band of violin, banjo, guitar, and bass drum, and on two recordings one or more of the drums were played with the four- or ten-hole panpipes, known amongst most black musicians as "quills."

Lomax returned to the same area, Tate and Panola Counties, Mississippi, in 1959 and recorded the survivors of the group he first recorded, Sid Hemphill and Lucius Smith, on quills and drum 2 as well as another fife and drum band, the Young family, consisting of a fife and two drums.3 In 1968 George Mitchell recorded another band, a fife and two drums, in this same area,4 and since 1969 I have recorded several groups. The normal combination is a five-hole cane fife, a snare drum, and a bass drum, but occasionally the fife has six holes or there is a second snare drum. One 'group I recorded consisted of simply a bass and snare drum without any fife.

My recent field work has been able to show that the fife and drum tradition is more widespread than earlier work had indicated. Such bands are found not only throughout Tate and Panola Counties but also in adjacent Marshall and Lafayette Counties. This area is located in far northern Mississippi just to the east of the Delta lowlands. The total population is about half black, but in the rural parts the black percentage is much higher.

Field research this year by Bengt Olsson has uncovered a fife and drum band in Fayette County, Tennessee, just across the line from Mississippi5 Marshall County, and has revealed that such bands existed not long ago in rural Shelby and Lauderdale Counties, not far from Memphis.5 Thus the tradition is or was until recently quite strong in the hill country outside Memphis on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Another fife and drum tradition has been reported by Harry Oster around the turn of the century "in Franklin County in the southwest corner of Mississippi, almost three hundred miles away from Memphis. The group was described as "an old field band" consisting of cane fife, snare, kettle, and bass drums.6 Finally, George Mitchell located a fife and drum band in Talbot County, Georgia, near Columbus, Missouri the western part of the state, which I recorded in 1970. It consisted of a six-hole cane fife with kettle and bass drums.

The above twentieth century accounts are supplemented by reports of black fife and drum bands from earlier centuries. Eileen Southern in her recent book, The Music of Black Americans; A History, has suggested that as early as the seventeenth century blacks may have "picked up" the skills of fife or drum playing from the militia units in New England and the Middle Colonies, since all slaves were compelled to undergo military training until the 1650's.7

During the eighteenth century there are numerous reports of black fifers and drummers." In fact, during this time Negroes and Indians were allowed to enroll in the colonial militia only as drummers, fifers, trumpeters, and pioneers. For the elections of slave "governors" in Hartford and Wallingford, Connecticut, in the 1750s parades were held with marching to the music of fife and drum bands. Later in these celebrations songs were sung in African languages to a different combination of instruments: the fiddle, tambourine, banjo, and drum.9 in 1765 two black drummers were used to call the citizens of Philadelphia to a town meeting.10

Numerous advertisements for slaves or notices of runaways during this century attest to their skills on a variety of instruments including drum and fife as well as the "German flute." Numerous black fifers and drummers served during the Revolutionary War, and the names of several are known.12 Between 1818 and 1844 Frank Johnson's Colored Band working out of Philadelphia was one of the most popular groups in the country. They were primarily a marching band of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments; but on occasion a fifer and drummer would play to give the regular bandsmen a rest during parades. They could also constitute themselves as a string band for dances.13

In 1832 Dan Emmett, a white man who later became a famous minstrel showman, received instruction in fife and drum at Newport Barracks, Kentucky, from John J. "Juba" dark, almost certainly from his nickname a black man. A large number of black fifers and drummers served in the Union army during the Civil War,15 and there is even one recorded case of such a group in the Confederate army. Josephus Blake and two other slaves played fife and drums for the regiment of their master. General John B. Gordon. Blake acquired his skill on the drum originally by imitating on the bottom of a tin pan the beats of the white drummer of a regiment drilling near his master's plantation.16 General Gordon, incidentally, was from Upson County, Georgia, only about thirty miles from where I recorded a fife and drum band over a hundred years later. Thus in this one area at least we seem to be dealing with a tradition of long standing.

The early accounts indicate that black fife and drum bands were modeled on and did not differ considerably from their white counter parts. Through the time of the Civil War such bands were a part of almost every militia unit. They played for military drill, parades, and various festivities. Their repertoires consisted mainly of marches and the popular tunes of the day. After the Civil War, fife and drum bands declined in importance in the military and were largely superseded by marching brass bands.

Another factor in their decline was probably the demise of the local militia. In the Northeast among whites there are still some bands that play for parades. Until a few decades ago there was a thriving tradition of these bands in western Pennsylvania which has been described by Samuel Bayard.17 One or more six-hole fifes would be combined with a bass drum and any number of snare drums. They played for a variety of public occasions, either parading or standing in formation and often with a special costume. In the South, however, the fife and drum bands since the Civil War have been black. ' None of my informants in either Mississippi or Georgia has ever seen or heard of a white player, although one black player in Mississippi was given a six-hole metal fife by a white man after playing for him at a picnic.

That the present-day tradition among blacks in the South goes back at least to the time of Reconstruction is confirmed by older people there today who remember in their childhoods seeing old men play fifes and drums. The black and white traditions then would seem to have diverged some one hundred years ago.

Having established the existence of antebellum black fife and drum bands based on their white counterparts and the probability that these early black and white bands were the inspiration for the black tradition that exists in some Southern communities today, I wish to spend the rest of this paper accounting for the divergence of the present-day black bands from the military tradition. First, however I should point out a number of respects in which the original military tradition is maintained. There is still, for instance, an attachment to the large bass drum of the marching band. I have in my possession a bass drum made over eighty years ago by a man in Pope, Mississippi, with rope-tightened cowhide heads. All the other drums I have seen are factory made. Some musicians have switched to a smaller bass drum taken from a jazz drum set, but this is only because marching drums are hard to obtain in rural areas as the older ones deteriorate. Still, the larger bass drum is preferred for its greater volume.

The Mississippi bands play at large community picnics during the summer and especially on holidays like Independence Day and Labor Day. These picnics are all-black affairs, although in earlier years some of the bands reputedly played for white picnics. In Georgia the band I recorded played for Christmas Eve serenading and "school closing" in June. Such playing for holidays and public functions would seem to be a continuation of the early tradition.

In Mississippi the moving around of the band is called "marching," and several of the tunes are known generically as "marches," such as "When the Saints Go Marching In." Finally, the recordings made by Alan Lomax in 1942 of Sid Hemphill's band show that the group's fife and drum repertoire consisted largely of the popular tunes of its members' youth, roughly the first decade of this century

[…]

The so-called "marching" is also a far cry from the neat rows of a military unit. In fact, the musicians really dance and sway while they play. They generally begin from a bonfire built behind or next to the picnic stand for the purpose of warming and tightening the drum heads in the damp night air. The "march" is usually led by a dancer who emerges rear-end-first so that he is facing the musicians. He is followed by the fife blower and the snare drummer or drummers. The bass drummer brings up the rear. Sometimes the musicians break their single file and bunch up. The fife player rocks and sways and sometimes sings a line or two. He may be joined by moaning or whooping of one of the drummers. The main requirement of any vocal effort in such a situation is volume, since the drums can be heard six miles away on a calm night.

Usually only one or a few people dance at any time, and generally each person dances without a partner. Most of the people simply stand around watching and shouting encouragement to the dancers and musicians. Oftentimes someone will dance for just a few seconds and the n retire. But others may dance until they drop from exhaustion into somebody's arms. Once a man and a woman became possessed by the drumming and began crawling in the dust directly beneath the bass drum. The man repeated this behavior for about three pieces in succession. Although such behavior is strongly reminiscent of certain African and West Indian cult practices, it should not be assumed that such possession by drumming in Mississippi was of a religious nature, even though it could probably be described as a spiritual experience.

Picnics are purely for fun and have no connection with religion, and, in fact, any such association is strictly avoided. Fife and drum music is never played on a Sunday or in a church, and. the musicians maintain the convention of ending Saturday's festivities at midnight with a spiritual to usher in Sunday. Actually though, a close account of the time is seldom kept, and the picnics often run past midnight and often end not with a spiritual but simply the dwindling away of the crowd. But in any case, dancing is never done while a spiritual is played. Spirituals constitute only one part of the repertoire of the fife and drum bands. Popular songs, such as Lomax recorded in 1942, seem to have lost their popularity, although some of the commercial blues hits of the last few decades are now played. Chief among these are "Sitting on Top of the World' and "My Babe." None is in the standard twelve bar AAB blues pattern because it would require breaks in the melody at the end of each line; and all fife melodies are continuous. Another group of songs consists of old minstrel pieces such as "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite? No, Child, No," and "Mama's Gonna Cook a Little Shortenin' Bread."

These generally contain either rhymed couplets or a phrase one measure in length repeated endlessly. The subject matter of the lyrics is usually inconsequential. A final group of songs is known by the generic name of "Shimmie She Wobble," which was a popular dance of the 1920's. These pieces consist of variations on a few musical ideas, and sometimes they are given individual names if the thought strikes the musician. These names of the pieces are usually whatever phrase happens to be on the musician's mind. Sometimes the fife player will stop and sing a bluesy vocal.

There are a number of factors that have brought about this fife and drum music in addition to the early military tradition. One is the tradition of African music previously alluded to. In addition to many accounts of black military fife and drum players in the eiteenth and nineteenth centuries, there are many references to African drumming in various Southern states and occasionally in the North. I have even recorded a recollection of African-style drumming in southern Mississippi as late as the 1920's.

Undoubtedly this African tradition was in great part responsible for the popularity of the fife and drum band among blacks and it would seem to have introduced considerable syncopation and polyrhythm into the drumming. Fife and drum ensembles are known in Africa, especially in the Sudan region, although a more common sight is the reed oboe with two or three drums of different sizes. The African concept of "talking drums" has also had some effect on Afro-American fife and drum bands. Spectators will often urge the drummers to "make the drum talk it," and in some of the old minstrel pieces the drum beats actually do correspond to the syllables of the words. In general, the drums are primary in the ensemble, taking precedence over the fife in importance. They do not simply play a rhythmic accompaniment but actually beat out complex patterns of poly rhythms with considerable variation and improvisation on set themes.

Another important consideration is the fact that there seems to be a tradition of fife playing among blacks without drums. In the only two instances found of this type, the instrument is called a "quill."20 One is from East Texas during slavery21 and the other from Central Mississippi in this century.22 These instances may represent a survival of African transverse flute playing, although without recordings nothing definite can be said. Conversely I recorded a band consisting of two drums with which a fife was used only occasionally. This band strongly emphasized the idea of making the drum beats correspond with the syllables of the words and thus represents another close link with the African tradition.

African and Afro-American musical traditions in general emphasize percussion, and certain other percussive elements in these traditions seem tOi-have influenced the direction of fife and drum music. For example, body slapping* such as the well-known "Hambone" routine, utilizes the same one-measure repeated patterns as much of the fife and drum music. The same can be said for tap and buck dancing. 1 recorded some excellent buck dancing from members of the fife and drum band:'-in Georgia. The rhythms of the feet and the drums were the same. Another percussive influence is the music produced by many black children. A man I recorded in Mississippi imitates a fife and drum band by whistling and beating on a washtub. He plays the bass drum notes with his thumb and the snare drum notes with his fingers. He attributes this style of music to "play picnics" in his youth and performs it today only around his house. I once recorded him with a large group of teenage children all beating on chairs, milk cartons, and wood blocks. Some real poly-metric playing occurred but it was never sustained over a very long period.

[…]

One final factor is the possible influence of black music on the early military fife and drum bands. These bands always played many popular songs of the day, and it should be kept in mind that in the 1830's and following years black music was in great vogue. This was the age of minstrelsy, and everyone was whistling and singing "Ethiopian tunes." Many of these were originally genuine slave folk-songs, while others were probably more or less accurate white imitations of black music. Undoubtedly such tunes were played by. fife-and-drum bands, especially in the South, Thus by the end of the Civil War when blacks were ready to develop their own independent tradition of fife and drum music, they could identify with the already existing military tradition through previous participation in it, its emphasis on percussion in accordance with the style of African music and the fact that plantation and minstrel music had already influenced this military music.

We are led to the conclusion that the pre-Civil War military fife and drum band, for the most part a white product, provided the basic framework and some of the superficial characteristics of the more recent black fife and drum bands. This framework, however, has been largely filled with African and Afro-American influences to create the sound heard at picnics in northern Mississippi today."

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