Popular myths about the classic holiday tune have circulated for decades, obscuring its origins on the minstrel stage.

These included songs from one of the principal ways songs traveled from town to town: itinerant minstrel shows – white professional musicians, dressed in blackface, who danced and performed ...

described as a “white minstrel show.” I wonder if Bill Bennett can tap-dance. Race is part of this, as it is part of many things in America, but it is easy to make too much of it, too.

Jackson's performance, in silhouette, reveals the excitement, novelty, and energy of performances that brought enormous audiences to minstrel shows in Foster's day.