[Ads-l] Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology

Mon Jul 6 14:13:59 UTC 2020

I concur - if we can agree that, as names for the South,"Dixie's Land" and
"Dixie" appear to be Emmett's innovations.

JL

On Mon, Jul 6, 2020 at 6:19 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:

> Among my mistakes: in “Dixie…Chronology” “1861 John Bell of TN, from
> Dixie’s Land” should read “1860 John Bell of TN, from Dixon’s Land.”
> Another “Dixon’s Land” appeared in a letter to the editor in 1861,
> Providence Evening Press [AmHistN], Feb. 26, p. 1 col. 7.
>
> The eastern NY kid’s game is noted in Dialect Notes,  vol. 1 p. 398 as a
> local NY name for the game also known as king or king calico. In Dialect
> Notes v. 2,  p. 139 “Dickie’s Land” game (this time, Cattaraugus Co., the
> words gathered at Cornell U. from 1896 to 1900), is described with Dixie
> noted and “Note rime:
>
> “I’m on Dickie’s Land
>
> Dickie don’t know it,
>
> He’s got a sore toe
>
> An’ he can’t go it.”
>
> “This is sung by the players leading out. In the South the verses begin
> “I’m on Dixie’s land.”
>
> The 1854 Dorothea Dix Land Bill almost passed. It would have provided land
> for mental hospitals. The 1855 text (as well as one from 1861) may also
> belittle it, aware of “Dixey’s land.”
>
> Though D. D. Emmett surely popularized Dixie, it, apparently, did not
> spring from his head fully-formed like Athena from Zeus. But, apparently,
> came from Dixon’s Line then to Dixie and Dickey Land games then to Dixie
> song.
>
> Stephen Goranson
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 8:26 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology
>
> The rhyme of /h ^ m/  and /k ^ m/ could indicate a New England origin, but
> I may be over-interpreting the data.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 12:49 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Still more old stuff?  (Stop me, if you've heard this one.)  It's very
> > late, but it asserts that the game was associated with a song/chant:
> >
> > 1914 _Austin American_ (Sept. 27) 13: "An old resident of New York [n.b.
> -
> > JL] tells of a game called "Dixie's Land" which he used to play many
> years
> > before the Civil War. The game was to run upon your opponent's section
> and
> > then taunt the catcher with a song womewhat as follows:
> >
> >               I'm on Dixie's Land!  Dixie aint' [sic] at home;
> >               Dixie's gone fishing. Dixie can't come."
> >
> > If Emmett had heard something similar, may have wondered about the origin
> > of "Dixie's land," and decided that it could only refer to "Mason and
> > Dixon's Line," Dixon being incorrectly assumed as a representative of the
> > South  (Mason : Dixon:: North : South).
> >
> > I could go for that.  Less persuasive is the tangential possibility that
> > the tale of slaves being eager to head back to "Dixie's Land" is a
> > rationalization of the origin of the game, again based on the belief
> (which
> > could be true!) that "Dixie's" was originally "Dixon's."
> >
> > Since the M-D Line was surveyed in the 1760s, there would have been
> plenty
> > of time for the name of game to have developed from that by 1850 (or even
> > 1800).
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 11:22 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Of course this 1844 "Dixey's Land" is not the 1859 song, nor did I mean
> >> that it was. "Playing" here indicated dance, movement.
> >>
> >> Whether this * "Original Sketch: sequel to 'The Christmas Carol." was
> >> properly listed as "(fiction?)," (was Dickens' piece non-fiction?) , I
> >> naturally leave to each reader.
> >>
> >> Stephen Goranson
> >> <
> >>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/docview/136773498/F5791B20C0EE4EC2PQ/8?accountid=10598__;!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NCyw7k9M$
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>   *
> >> *Proquest, American Periodicals, as reported by JL on ads-l long ago
> >>   *
> >> Original Sketches.: SEQUEL TO "THE CHRISTMAS CAROL."
> >>
> >> LINCOLN RAMBLE<
> >>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/LINCOLN*RAMBLE/$N?accountid=10598__;Kw!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NHhStSEY$
> >.
> >> The New World; a Weekly Family Journal of Popular Literature, Science,
> Art
> >> and News (1840-1845)<
> >>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/pubidlinkhandler/sng/pubtitle/The*New*World$3b*a*Weekly*Family*Journal*of*Popular*Literature,*Science,*Art*and*News*$281840-1845$29/$N/35386/PagePdf/136773498/fulltextPDF/F5791B20C0EE4EC2PQ/8?accountid=10598__;KysrKysrKysrKysrKys!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NEGrQ1rj$
> >;
> >> New York Vol. 9, Iss. 26, <
> >>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/indexingvolumeissuelinkhandler/35386/The*New*World$3b*a*Weekly*Family*Journal*of*Popular*Literature,*Science,*Art*and*News*$281840-1845$29/01844Y12Y28$23Dec*28,*1844$3b**AVol.*9*$2826$29/9/26?accountid=10598__;KysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKys!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NDGIDGdM$
> >
> >> (Dec 28, 1844): 803
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> SG
> >> ________________________________
> >> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> >> dave at WILTON.NET <dave at WILTON.NET>
> >> Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 10:57 AM
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Subject: Re: Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology
> >>
> >> I don't interpret the 1844 reference to the dance this way. The dance
> and
> >> music being played aren't "Dixey's Land," the writer is comparing the
> >> dancers crossing imaginary boundaries with the children playing the game
> >> of
> >> "Dixey's Land," which the writer had written about a few months before
> and
> >> was obviously familiar with. Both the 1844 references are to the game.
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> >> Stephen
> >> Goranson
> >> Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 8:34 AM
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> Subject: [ADS-L] Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated
> >> Chronology
> >>
> >> Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology
> >>
> >> [Details are in American Dialect Society -list archive, J. Lighter's
> >> Historical Dic. American Slang, and J. Green's Dic. Of Slang; additions
> >> and
> >> corrections welcome.]
> >>
> >> [Variant Dix+-spellings, some informalisms and/or (black or white) slang
> >> or
> >> maybe kid-speech (Dickie) for Dixon, he of the exceedingly well-known
> >> Line,
> >> and eventually, land. Searches for a kind-hearted NY D. slaveholder or a
> >> particular D. minstrel role or individual--other than Dixon--may have
> been
> >> over-rated. Old-timers who recalled such related pre-1859 games, perhaps
> >> similar to Tag and, maybe, to Red Rover, vindicated.]
> >>
> >> 1763-7 the Mason and Dixon Line survey
> >>
> >> 1835 US South [apparently imo called] Mason and Dixon's *Land*
> >>
> >> 1844 a (fiction?) dance, with playing "Dixey's Land"; also 1844, same
> >> author, play at Dixie's land on newly-washed pavement
> >>
> >> 1849 Mason & Dixon Line re-surveyed and largely confirmed
> >>
> >> 1852 kids in NY play games "I Spy," and "Tag," and "Dicky's land"
> >>
> >> [1854 Dorothea Dix's Land Bill, not enacted-in 1861 belittled in NY
> >> publication]
> >>
> >> 1855 .this game.the game cannot be played without the State.those who go
> >> to
> >> Dixey's land must be Dixey's men
> >>
> >> 1856 boys on skates [in Buffalo] played "Dickie's Land" and "Tag"
> >>
> >> 1859 D.D. Emmett [who spent time in NY] songs Jonny Roach and Dixie's
> Land
> >> make Dixie (land) famous [On Emmett see Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the
> >> rise
> >> of Negro minstrelsy, second edition, 1977]
> >>
> >> 1861 H.  Hotze writes Dixie is an abbreviation for Mason and Dixon's
> Line
> >> and claims he previously heard northern negroes use it as such
> >>
> >> 1861 John Bell of TN, from Dixie's Land
> >>
> >> 1861 WH Russell [160 or 60?-river vs crow-fly?)] miles north of Memphis
> >> reports Dixie's Land is a synonym for heaven
> >>
> >> 1861 Old Game of Dixie's Land, sport, in NY, decades past, with lines,
> >> boundaries North and South
> >>
> >> 1861 Mason and Dixon line, or on Dixon's, or Dixey's Line itself [PA
> >> newspaper]
> >>
> >> 1863 Artemis Ward crosses Dixie's line [several newspapers]
> >>
> >> 1869 "sout' in Tixey" [see Green]
> >>
> >> 1872 Dixie's land, a recalled game NY boys played, also "Tag"
> >>
> >> 1872 Emmett, whose story changed later, claimed northern negroes said "I
> >> wish I was in Dixie's land" when he was about to travel south
> >>
> >>
> >> Stephen Goranson
> >>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society -
> >>
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> >>
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> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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