“Go Way White Trash, Dis Chile Dance Yer Blind”

Don’t be fooled by a carte de visite photograph’s small format. Sometimes there is a big idea within.

This 1877 photograph by J. P. Soule of Boston reproduces a seemingly humorous — and seemingly-superficial — vignette drawn by G. W. Leonard. Leonard depicts a black American child dancing to the musical accompaniment of two white children.

With his shoeshine box before him demarcating his stage area, T. Smith dances to a tune played by a boy on his concertina and a girl violinist. The dancer and the musicians look at each other, caught up in their mutual performances. In concert, they are respectful of one another.

What We Are Talking About — John P. Soule (1828–1904), photographer; G.W. Leonard, artist. Go Way White Trash, Dis Chile Dance Yer Blind. [Boston:] J.P. Soule (1877). Carte de Visite Photograph. 2½ x 4 inches. Albumen print on cream-colored card stock; oblong format.

These are not merely black and white children, they are artists making something larger than themselves. They only see and hear their talents, not their skin color.

In the background, a white street urchin-like child mimics the dancing shoeshine boy. The white child is not copying the dance so much as mocking it.

The dancer, taking pride in his talent, delivers the withering punch-line: “Go Way White Trash, Dis Chile Dance Yer Blind.” (“Dis Chile” being self-referential to the black dancer.)

In Leonard’s drawing, the dancer literally divides the scene, turning his back on his feeble imitator and looking toward his white friends.

Although he himself uses a racial expression — “white trash” — the dancer, as narrator, offers two competing visions of race relations. Which will the viewer choose to embrace?

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