The cheerful melody of “Jingle Bells” is an indelible part of the modern holiday soundscape, synonymous with winter wonder and festive joy. Yet, this seemingly innocent classic, penned by James Lord Pierpont in 1857, carries a troubled history inextricably linked to the dark era of American slavery and the racist performance tradition of minstrelsy.
To fully appreciate its legacy, we must look beyond the jingly chorus and confront the uncomfortable context of its creation and initial reception.
“Jingle Bells” was originally named “One Horse Open Sleigh”
Originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh,” the song debuted in the very heart of minstrel culture. Historical research suggests that the song’s first known public performance took place at Ordway Hall in Boston in September 1857, featured in a program by blackface minstrel performer Johnny Pell.
Minstrel shows were a form of entertainment where white performers donned blackface makeup to mock and caricature enslaved and free African Americans, popularizing deeply racist stereotypes.
This link to minstrelsy casts a long, unsettling shadow. While the surviving lyrics of “Jingle Bells” itself are focused on sleigh riding, flirting, and a minor accident, its inclusion in a minstrel show aligns it with a theatrical genre built on the dehumanization of Black people.
The popularity of the catchy tune, therefore, cannot be entirely divorced from the cultural mechanism that capitalized on and normalized racial mockery in the mid-19th century.
Pierpont, the composer, had financial incentives to write music that fit the popular and lucrative minstrel stage, regardless of his personal convictions.
Furthermore, James Lord Pierpont’s own history complicates the song’s narrative. Born into a staunchly abolitionist New England family, he later moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he became a supporter of the Confederacy during the Civil War, even writing “patriotic” songs for their cause.
The song’s popularization through a racist medium is indisputable
This familial and ideological break is significant; Pierpont’s political alignment with the South’s defense of slavery stands in stark contrast to his abolitionist relatives and connects him, however indirectly, to the forces that upheld the institution.
While there is debate among historians regarding a direct lyrical connection between the “jingle bells” of the song and the bells sometimes affixed to iron slave collars—a cruel deterrent against escape—the song’s popularization through a racist medium is indisputable.
The cheerful sound of the bells, for many, is a reminder of sleighs and snow; for others, the very instrument of the title is historically resonant with the pain of bondage.
Today, “Jingle Bells” is a global phenomenon, often performed without any acknowledgment of its origins. However, understanding its beginning in blackface minstrelsy and the composer’s Confederate sympathies is wholly necessary.
It serves as a powerful reminder of how American culture, even the seemingly most benign, can be deeply interwoven with the nation’s history of racial inequality.
It was already an irritating song to begin with, just another reason to drop it from existence.
Another example of the complicated story of this nation. This doesn’t make the version of “Jingle Bells” we’ve known and sung for years racist, but understand that its roots come from a dark era in our past.
Anyone still under the influence of what happened in the 1800’s has some serious issues. Jingle Bells is a fun, catchy tine that causes us to picture a cold, snowy winter scene. Nothing more – nothing less.