Thirteen Real Photo Postcards of Cake Walk Dancers in France, c. 1900–1905

The cakewalk, chalkline-walk, or walkaround—a dance developed by enslaved African Americans on southern plantations—made its first public appearance at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial, where it was celebrated with the award of a cake. After that, most American minstrel shows had some version of a cakewalk in their repertoire. Later oral accounts of plantation life would reveal that the dance had been used as a way for enslaved people to mock their owners without punishment. Around the turn of the century, the cakewalk gained enormous popularity in France. The Florida Creole Girls were one of the first troupes to popularize it, performing it at the famous Casino de Paris music hall. The photographs on these postcards show performers from the Nouveau Cirque, a circus located in Paris at 251 Rue Saint-Honoré and owned by Joseph Oller, co-founder of the Moulin Rouge. Ten images show Ruth "Rudy" and Frederick "Fredy" Walker, who were known professionally as The Walkers but credited on the images as "Les Enfants Nègres"; their cakewalk performances in France, which was filmed by Louis Lumière, and led to long careers as performers. The other four images show an unidentified pair of men, one dressed in women’s clothing, who perform under the name "Les Nègres". Some with small pinholes at top; overall Near Fine. Silver gelatin photographs on postcard stock, measuring 3 ½ x 5 ½ inches.…