While today we celebrate Black History Month, I can´t help but remember it was only 30 years ago that Kake Walk was being celebrated; for many people Kake Walk was a positive portrayal of African Americans. Kake Walk at the University of Vermont was a performance in which white males would walk in mockery of the Cake Walk dance done by slaves in plantations. This dance was at the request of the master who would have his slaves dance and sing for his guests. The one he deemed the funniest received a slice of cake. At UVM the couple, which consisted of two men, (one of whom was dressed as a woman), presented themselves in a fashion that exaggerated the various stereotypes of African Americans. Some examples of the exaggerations are black face makeup, white make up around the eyes and mouth, teased hair imitating black hair and the perpetuation of the happy-go-lucky Negro.
"Walking Fo´ de Kake" was something that began as a private function done for fun, later developing into a campus-wide event lasting three days in February. The festivities included ice sculptures of the walkers, skits with such popular titles as "Nigger Heaven" and "Koon Klux Klan," a parade, and the Kake Walk itself which was set to the anthem "Cotton Babes."
Kake Walk was designed to bring all factions of the campus and Burlington communities together. It was the most important event of the whole year, allowing everyone to participate and show their school spirit. Kake Walk was so popular that it appeared in a 1952 issue of Life magazine. Noticeable opposition began in the late 1950s and increased throughout the 1960s. In 1964 the Inter-Fraternity Council, which ran the event, decided to have the walkers use green makeup instead of black as an answer to the debate on whether the offensive black-face really was needed for the Kake Walk to exist. When the dancers performed, nobody could tell the difference between the new dark green makeup and the usual black face.
Nevertheless, a number of the community members felt that the abolishment of black face took from the original joy and meaning of Kake Walk. In 1969, the opposition to Kake Walk increased, receiving local and national attention, and it was finally terminated. Many people applauded the decision, as it was the first stance UVM had ever taken against racism. However, the decision to end Kake Walk was so unpopular with some that they tried to reinstate it by holding private versions. Some former donors to the university pulled their money out of UVM as a statement against what they saw as a weak administration who had acted out of intimidation by militant minorities.
The Kake Walk ceased to be and UVM tried to improve its lack of diversity by recruiting more black students. An unsuccessful effort was made to revive the old school spirit by creating alternatives such as Homecoming and Octoberfest. For many, the abolition of Kake Walk symbolized the end of racism at UVM. The reality is that the University of Vermont no longer prefers parading publicly in black-face -- today they work to ignore the subtle racism that people of color live with on a daily basis. Instead of actively recruiting and retaining students and faculty of color and taking a firm stand against racism, the university attempts to appease us with displays for Black History Month in its library, and small discussions and lectures about women of color and prominent African American figures.
Isn´t it a shame that after 29 years, two administration building takeovers, and many useless meetings about racial climate, I can walk into the library and see posters advertising Black History Month, and a plaque in memory of the Kake Walk´s faculty advisor - until recently - was displayed at the university?
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Early years of Kake Walk at UVM - - 1894-1969. See it for yourself!
Read a commentary by H. Lawrence McCrorey, Dean of Allied Health written in 1970 addressing the issue of Kake Walk.