John,

I looked at the version before your edits; that was pretty egregious, and I'm glad that's fixed.

I'll put a disclaimer for the remainder of this reply:

I'd be interested to hear takes on this from American square and contra historians on this subject, whether it's from this list or any discussion that might spin off elsewhere.

...

So, while I do think that the edit that you removed, John, was appropriate, and I think labeling the whole dance form as "racist" is inaccurate an enormous disservice, I do think that the wikipedia page could use more examination.

The entry doesn't mention contributions of black Americans at all.

This line here:
" This practice became common by the early 1900s and gave rise to the modern caller.^[9]"

has the citation for Phil Jamison's book on the subject, and Jamison is pretty clear that the contribution by black Americans was both widespread and critical to how calling evolved.

So if I were going to suggest an edit to the page, I think that this line be revised to mention the 1800s instead of the 1900s (or both) and mention the role of black American servants and slaves in the rise of calling, since that's a major topic in Jamison's book.

I didn't have time to look through all past revisions; I'm unsure if that had been included and then edited. But that may be worth looking into as well. It's possible that this sort of content was in past revisions, and whitewashed by other editors.

Interestingly, while Henry Ford's wikipedia page has a section on his racism/antisemitism, it doesn't mention any of his musical interests, not even his fiddle playing.
Given he poured large sums of money into promoting contras and squares, that seems like an oversight. But that page is a whole nother discussion, I suppose.

Back to the Square Dancing page - it does have a few sentences about how it grew in the 30s, 40, and the 50s revival - but doesn't mention Ford in the 20s at all.

A quick summation: https://www.americanheritage.com/square-dancing-master

It's also perhaps worth considering that there were concerted efforts by lawmakers over decades to make square dancing the "official" dancing.

And it was very successful, given how many American elementary school programs taught / teach square dancing and no other dance forms. (John, I'm unsure how aware or not aware you are of this, as a UK person.)

A solid read on this subject:
https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy

In dance,

Julian Blechner

he/him

Western Mass

On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 6:10 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Hi all,
              The Wikipedia “Square Dance” entry, which covers all Square Dance (Playford, ECD, MWSD, traditional American, Irish, etc.) was recently vandalised with claims that Square Dancing is racist and antisemitic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_dance

              These claims have now been removed. But, in order to show how far from the truth they are, I thought it might be nice to set up a page which showed all the different styles of Square Dancing from around the world and across time.

              I therefore created this page: http://contrafusion.co.uk/SquareDanceHistory.html with a brief history and lots of diverse videos.

              I would be grateful for any additions, corrections, suggestions, etc., especially for suggestions of videos which show any other forms of Square Dancing, or from any other countries.

              Please let me know if you have any good ideas.

              Thanks.

            Happy dancing,
                   John

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

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