How deep is your love for this song? Go deeper. Humble (and
Racist) Beginnings In 1859, Bryant’s Minstrels needed to spice
up their act. Their material was growing stale; audiences were
tired of the same old song and dance. So the troupe owners asked
one of the performers, Daniel Decatur Emmett, to put together a
new “walk-around.” Walk-arounds were audience favorites, high-
energy finales in which the cast members took turns trying to
out-sing or dance the performer before them. Emmett accepted the
assignment, and legend has it that within a day he had written
“Dixie.” The song was like many other minstrel show songs of the
time. It was narrated by a Southern slave who told a tale about
“Ole Missus” and her husband Will. The specifics of the tale
were not important, though. In fact, if you read the lyrics
today, it’s hard to understand why audiences found them so
hilarious. But that’s because the humor in minstrel show songs
had little to do with the words sung. Instead, audiences were
entertained by the mann