Alabama Dancing Negro

I have chosen this video segment of a “Coon Jigger” for a few reasons. The broad reason I chose this toy is because the history and value this particular toy has. Even though on the side of this toy it says Alabama Dancing Negro this toy was actually made in New York. This antique was not made recently It was actually made in 1912 during the Jim Crow Era. So besides all the pictures and videos we’ve seen, now we get a look at what kind of toys the young, white, boys and girls played with.

In class we’ve learned much about the Jim Crow era and we also have learned much about racism through many articles including the book Kindred. This toy is unique all the way from the manufacturing location down to the details of the toy itself. The dancing antique has the facial features of a perceived black man such as: big red lips, extremely dark complexion, and last but not least the plain fact that it's calleda coon jigger. These features we’ve learned about during that video of Jim Crow. But one thing I thought was weird was the man had on a nice suit, pants, hat, and shoes. After our many debates of what White people thought of African Americans I would’ve never guessed that. Only a few blacks of that time had the money to buy those kinds of clothes; how could a toy that portrayed the average black man be so dressed up and sophisticated looking? This slightly contradicts our views. We’ve read in Kindred where all the slaves wore raggedy, torn, dirty clothes from working in the field and from being beaten. Did this toy resemble a free, educated black male? That is a question only the manufacturers or an owner of this toy can answer.

In this video you see a White person owns this toy and many people have commented negatively about the race of this object, so clearly it was meant for a young White child. This toy is meant to be racist in the fact that the way the toy dances is clearly not how anyone dances, only through the dance of the sambo that Jim Crow made up is this relatively close. This dance he made was to mock the black people and entertain the Whites. To make a toy out of it only farther deepens the kind of humor that White people had for African Americans.

I find this toy to be very fascinating. In all my years of playing with toys as a kid and seeing the toys my dad and my grandparents have played with I have never came across such an interesting item. I researched the value for this toy and it is rare. There were only a few hundred made and if you find one today in mint condition you are sitting on about a $350+ item. These things are being auctioned for by many different organization and also many collectors. I only wish I had one to bring into class for demonstration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P34Ua4z3qug