Postcard History

In modern times, if a prize is the award for the best performance in a show, the winner would certainly be surprised to learn that his prize is a cake. That was not always the case. On the slave plantations in the early 19th century, a cake was often the prize. Cake was a rarity at that time, and the dance performances came to be known as cakewalks. Postcards help us understand how the cakewalk dance is a subtle mockery of the events in the big house.