“A popular name of the States of the Confederacy. The name Dixie, or Dixie’s Land, was originally applied to New York, or Manhattan Island, where it had its origin early in the 19th century.
Bryant, in a note to “Song’s from Dixie’s Land” says, “In the popular mythology of New York City, Dixie was the Negro’s paradise on earth in times when slavery and the slave trade were flourishing in that quarter.”
Dixie owned a tract of land on Manhattan Island, and also a large number of slaves; and his slaves increasing faster than his land, an emigration ensued such as has taken place in Virginia and other States. Naturally, the Negroes who left it for distant parts looked to it as a place of unalloyed happiness and it was the ‘old Virginny” of the Negroes of that day.
Hence Dixie became synonymous with an ideal locality, combining ineffable happiness and every imaginable requisite of earthly beatitude. It has been the subject of several popular songs.”
(A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, 1861-1865, James D. Richardson, Volume I, US Publishing Company, 1906, page 594)
Bryant, in a note to “Song’s from Dixie’s Land” says, “In the popular mythology of New York City, Dixie was the Negro’s paradise on earth in times when slavery and the slave trade were flourishing in that quarter.”
Dixie owned a tract of land on Manhattan Island, and also a large number of slaves; and his slaves increasing faster than his land, an emigration ensued such as has taken place in Virginia and other States. Naturally, the Negroes who left it for distant parts looked to it as a place of unalloyed happiness and it was the ‘old Virginny” of the Negroes of that day.
Hence Dixie became synonymous with an ideal locality, combining ineffable happiness and every imaginable requisite of earthly beatitude. It has been the subject of several popular songs.”
(A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, 1861-1865, James D. Richardson, Volume I, US Publishing Company, 1906, page 594)
No comments:
Post a Comment