"Gumbo Chaff", also spelled "Gombo Chaff", is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

, first performed in the early 1830s. It was part of the repertoire of early

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

performers, including

Thomas D. Rice Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808 – September 19, 1860) was an American performer and playwright who performed in blackface and used African American vernacular speech, song and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertai ...

and

George Washington Dixon George Washington Dixon (1801?Many biographies list his birth year as 1808, but Cockrell, ''Demons of Disorder'', 189, argues that 1801 is the correct date. This is based on Dixon's records at a New Orleans hospital, which list him as 60 years ol ...

. The title character was one of the earliest blackface characters in the United States. He was based largely on the tall-tale

riverboat A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury ...

smen and

frontiersmen A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, the ...

characters that were popular in fiction during the

Jacksonian Era Jacksonian democracy, also known as Jacksonianism, was a 19th-century political ideology in the United States that restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson and his supporters, i ...

. "Gumbo Chaff" merged these frontier elements with

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

s of black

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

, creating a new character who lives "On de

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

bluff in de state of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

" and who "jump into iskiff / And . . . down de river driff, / And . . . cotch as many

cat fish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not all catfish have prominent barbels or "whiskers ...

as ever nigger liff."Nathan 173. Due to this song's popularity, the black riverboatsman (usually named "Gumbo Chaff") became a popular character in minstrelsy for a time. Blackface singers would often perform "Gumbo Chaff" with a mock

flatboat A flatboat (or broadhorn) was a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways in the United States. The flatboat could be any size, but essentially it was a large, sturdy tub with a ...

on stage. The song's

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

seems to be at least partially based on an older

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

song called "

Bow Wow Wow Bow Wow Wow are an English New wave music, new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band with then 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on lead vocals. They released their deb ...

". " De Wild Goose-Nation", a blackface song written by

Dan Emmett Daniel Decatur Emmett (October 29, 1815June 28, 1904) was an American composer, entertainer, and founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel tradition, the Virginia Minstrels. He is most remembered as the composer of the song "Dixie". ...

in 1844, adapted the tune to "Gumbo Chaff", possibly with

parodic A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

intent.

Notes

References

*Gura, Philip F. (1999). ''America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth-century''. The University of North Carolina Press. *Hutton, Lawrence (1891). ''Curiosities of the American Stage''. New York: Harber & Brothers. *Mahar, William J. (1999). ''Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture''. University of Illinois Press. * {{cite book , first=Hans , last=Nathan , year=1962 , title=Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy , url=https://archive.org/details/danemmettriseofe0000nath , url-access=registration , location=Norman, Oklahoma , publisher=University of Oklahoma Press Blackface minstrel characters Blackface minstrel songs 1830s songs Songs with unknown songwriters Songs of the American Civil War