[Ads-l] Antedating of "Cakewalk" (Dance)

[Shapiro, Fred]

I find the custom and term of the cakewalk to be fascinating.  There is a lot of mystery and unsupported assertion surrounding it.

I posted the 1869 Yonkers citation last year and sent it to the OED and the Oxford Dictionary of African American English project.  Here is what I commented at that time:

"NOTE: The OED has an 1863 citation, but this appears to be describing a custom of white people and also to be questionably dated.  Newspapers.com searches show that the Edgefield (South Carolina) Advertiser repeatedly referred to "walking for the cake" and "cake walk" in non-African-American contexts starting in 1844.  The 1869 citation above is the earliest clearcut reference to the African American custom."

I think I was wrong about early use of the term "cake walk" in the Edgefield Advertiser, but "walking for the cake" appeared in that paper twice in 1844 and once in 1849.  These three citations appear to be completely isolated in the databases.  Recently I contacted the Edgefield historical society, and they were not aware of the cakewalk as a prominent Edgefield custom.

It is often said that the antebellum cakewalk featured enslaved persons dressing up and mocking the slavemasters.  I think that there is very little evidence for that theory, a lot of it seems to be based on one much later person recollecting a third-hand story from an ancestor.

The cakewalk really took off in the late 19th century.  Many people believe that the expressions "piece of cake" and "takes the cake" refer to the cakewalk, but I don't see any evidence for that.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2026 01:13
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "Cakewalk" (Dance)

1869 Yonkers Statesman 4 Nov 1/2

The colored people of this village will undertake the responsibilities of a "grand cake walk" at Law's Hall, on Wednesday evening, November 24, to aid the erection of their contemplated church.



------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org