I’ve been very concerned that Wikipedia has so little square dance history, and what there is has been superficial and sometimes misleading/inaccurate. From my viewpoint there are two snags to improving things: 1. I know (or am pretty sure of) a lot of things that I can’t cite sources for. One of Wiki’s taboos is original research; sources cited must be secondary, not primary. I’m steeped enough in SD history that a lot of what I could say would probably count as original research. 2. There are three Wikipedia articles on SD: “Modern western square dance”; “Traditional square dance”; and “Square dance”, which was originally intended to be very generic and to point readers to the other two articles for in-depth treatment. I’ve never decided in my own mind, let alone fostered any consensus, in which article any statements on history belong. I commented, some years ago, on the “Talk” pages of the SD articles, trying to get other folks’ opinions on how to organize the historical section(s); I never heard back from anyone. (What I wanted to avoid was a duplication of effort, particularly if the same historical events were treated differently on, say, the MWSD and Trad pages. Another Wiki rule is “neutral point of view.” I have deleted links to outside sources that explain traditional SD from a blatantly MWSD viewpoint.) I’d love to see the Wiki articles improved, and more historical material added. But I’m not sure I’m the one to do it. Tony Parkes Billerica, Mass. www.hands4.com<http://www.hands4.com/> New book! Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century (available now) From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; Sent: Friday, March 24, 2023 9:12 AM To: John Sweeney &lt;john(a)modernjive.com&gt; Cc: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: [Callers] Re: Wikipedia Dance Vandalism 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]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_dance#cite_note-:0-9>… 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-too… 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<mailto: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<mailto:john@modernjive.com> 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net>

One more add: the anonymous user who edited the Wikipedia page also added this citation, which is considerably more nuanced than their edits to the page content (which boiled down to "Square Dancing is racist"): The video they linked to tells the history in more detail, including the ultimate irony that many of the instruments, musical styles, and calling styles of square dance were brought from Africa by enslaved people. https://www.tiktok.com/@darastarrtucker/video/7176078180422405418?q=henry%2… </ref> On Fri, Mar 24, 2023, 9:44 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

I agree with Julian's really well-written statement, especially in hoping that someone with more study on the topic will chime in. It's been my understanding that Ford promoted square dancing, and pushed its inclusion in grade-school curricula, specifically as an "All-American" counterforce to swing dancing and jazz music (read "Black dance/music"). I really hate that I'm about to cite someone on Reddit, but the top comment on this post is really well-written and amply cited: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7ihbye/did_henry_ford_reall… "While there is no "smoking gun" that links Ford's anti-Semitism to his promotion of the square dance, there is a great deal of evidence that suggests his broader view of American culture - as a site of struggle between rural, Anglo-Saxon traditions and urban, Jewish modernity - was an important rationale for his patronage of traditional music and dance." Seems like a great idea for the Wikipedia page to include similar language acknowledging the social contexts in which Square Dancing was revived. Angela (they/them) On Fri, Mar 24, 2023, 9:11 AM Julian Blechner via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: