"Since I Heard From Home" (picturing Charlie Johnson and Dora Dean), 1902.

The cake walk, perhaps due its origins as a burlesque dance done for the entertainment of white plantation owners, eventually became a part of the minstrel show, and a number of Afro-American performers were to capitalize on its popularity in the late nineteenth century, some couples like Charles Johnson and Dora Dean (left) reinventing the dance as one of great grace and beauty. It was one of the few ways in which Black perfomers could find some measure of dignity in the theatrical world, and it was one of the means through which the public began to hear the new music being referred to as "rag time."

Our complete article includes fifty pages of photographs, sheet music covers, record labels, and engravings, featuring the complete score for an 1892 banjo duet, "Darkie's Cake Walk," by Gad Robinson.