Old Corn Meal, or Signor Cormeali, was an African American street vendor in New Orleans, Louisiana who became famous in the late 1830s for singing and dancing while he sold his wares. He is one of the earliest known African Americans to have had a documented influence on the development of blackface minstrelsy specifically and American popular music in general. African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... State nickname: Pelican State Other U.S. States Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans, officially (currently Baton Rouge due to the evacuation of New Orleans) Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) Senators Mary Landrieu (D) David Vitter (R) Official languages None; English and French de facto Area 134,382 km² (31st... Events and Trends Electromagnetic induction discovered by Michael Faraday Dutch-speaking farmers known as Voortrekkers emigrate northwards from the Cape Colony Croquet invented in Ireland Railroad construction begins in earnest in the United States Egba refugees fleeing the Yoruba civil wars found the city of Abeokuta in south-west Nigeria... Jump to: navigation, search This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, is an indigenous form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, usually performed by white people in blackface. ... The United States has produced many of the most popular musicians and composers in the modern world. ...

Old Corn Meal was known for walking through New Orleans singing and dancing while he led his horse and cart and sold Indian corn meal. "Fresh Corn Meal", which he composed, was his signature song; he also did popular material from blackface acts like "Old Rosin the Beau" and "My Long Tail Blue". He was a natural baritone, but he could "easily [transform] into a ringing falsetto".^[1] His popularity led to an invitation to perform at the St. Charles Theatre in 1837. There he did a solo act, along with horse and cart, that year and at least once more, in 1840. Cornmeal is dried, ground maize corn. ... Jump to: navigation, search This is an article on the voice type. ... Jump to: navigation, search Falsetto (fall-SET-oh) is a singing technique that produces sounds that are pitched higher than the singers normal range. ...

White performers who did blackface acts probably borrowed material from Old Corn Meal. George Nichols, a blackface circus clown is one, as is Thomas D. Rice, whose "Corn Meal" skit most likely came from seeing Old Corn Meal's act during one of his visits to New Orleans in 1835, 1836 and 1838. Jump to: navigation, search A clown participating in a Memorial Day parade A clown today is one of various types of comedic performers, on stage, television, in the circus and rodeo. ... Thomas Dartmouth Daddy Rice (May, 1808 - September 16, 1860), was a comedian and the creator of the blackface form of comedy of the 1800s and early 1900s. ...

Notes

1. ^  Wittke, Carl (1968). Tambo and Bones. Quoted in Watkins 106.

References

• Toll, Robert C. (1974). Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Watkins, Mel (1994). On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Signifying—The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor that Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor. New York: Simon & Schuster.