Ask students to share some of the games and songs their older relatives and family friends listed for them.
Discuss the process of collecting the music and games and review the meaning of "folklore" as passing on the folk life customs and habits from one generation to the next. During the late 19th century, Appalachian people worked very hard, lived in rural or isolated areas in the mountains and had little in the way of entertainment equipment. Ask students what types of equipment people used to entertain themselves? What about their grandparents?
Play and sing the singing game Needle's Eye or have a small group demonstrate for the class.
Have students analyze the movements and tell them that the words depict a way of choosing sides for another game or partners for a dance.
Because people lived quite far away from other families, getting together for singing games was a big event. Sometimes, families held "work swappings" such as bean stringings, molasses stirrings or house raisings. During work breaks and during the late nights after the work, everyone enjoyed these games, because it was a rare chance to talk and socialize with people from other families. Teen-agers and young adults especially enjoyed these activities, since it gave them a chance to decide who to "court" (date).
These singing games were played by people all across the south and some even got started after the minstrel shows. "Jump Jim Crow" was a game in which the songs's words were based on the minstrel's songs, and the term "Jim Crow" later referred to an era in which African Americans were no longer slaves, but still limited by laws, known as the Jim Crow laws.
Sing and play Jump Jim Crow.
Optional activity for History of Jim Crow http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources
Using the partners created at the end of Jump Jim Crow, sing and play Rosa Betsy Lina (pronounced rosa-becka-liner).
Sing and play Goin' To Boston (a more advanced play party game).
Note that Rosa Betsy Lina works well for introducing the long ways set with partners across and moving up and down the set, as well as in a circle; prior to Goin' to Boston.
Play Party Games
In the early 20th century, rural Americans in Southern Appalachia were only one of many regions of the country where play parties were held.
Common factors among the play parties in Ohio, Arkansas, California and New England were:
- Rural communities.
- Little or no access to instrumental accompaniment.
- Players sing and dance to the words, rather than a caller or leader directing.