Hollis Robbins: The Minstrel Origins of "Who Dat?"
Is it OK to say “Who Dat?” Now that the Saints have won the Super Bowl, the phrase (if anyone had missed it before) is ubiquitous, and the question is both moot and even more pressing.
The answer is yes, it’s OK.
The phrase has its roots in vernacular poetry of the 19th century and was popularized by black entertainers. The documented history of the phrase begins with the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), famous for poems such as “We Wear the Mask” and the line “I know why the caged bird sings” (from the poem “Sympathy”) and well as for humorous verse written in black dialect. His poem “When Malindy Sings” (1895) features the lines “Who dat says dat humble praises/Wif de Master nevah counts?” The idea behind writing dialect was that the language evoked the real speech of the folk population.
In 1898, Dunbar collaborated with gifted African-American composer Will Marion Cook (1869-1944), who had studied violin at Oberlin Conservatory and composition with Antonin Dvorák at the National Conservatory in New York, to write the lyrics and libretto to a show called “Clorindy: The Origin of the Cake Walk.” “Clorindy” opened at the fashionable Casino Roof Garden on Broadway the summer of 1898. The show featured an all-black cast (no blackface) and was an immediate hit (the New York Times called it “sensational”). The most popular number was “Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd”...
The association of the phrase “Who Dat” with the New Orleans Saints began in 1983 as the brainchild of two brothers, Steve and Sal Monistere, who worked in a recording studio, First Take. According to Times-Picayune writer Dave Walker, Steve heard the “Who dat?” chant and decided to incorporate it into a radio spot featuring “When the Saints Go Marching In.” He recruited five Saints players (black and white) to chant “Who dat?” for the recording session, Dave Waymer, Brad Edelman, John Hill, Reggie Lewis and Louis Oubre. Aaron Neville sang. Once again, the phrase “Who dat” was promoted by black voices—this time long after the uncomfortable minstrel connotations had disappeared from the American cultural consciousness.
Read entire article at The Root
The answer is yes, it’s OK.
The phrase has its roots in vernacular poetry of the 19th century and was popularized by black entertainers. The documented history of the phrase begins with the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), famous for poems such as “We Wear the Mask” and the line “I know why the caged bird sings” (from the poem “Sympathy”) and well as for humorous verse written in black dialect. His poem “When Malindy Sings” (1895) features the lines “Who dat says dat humble praises/Wif de Master nevah counts?” The idea behind writing dialect was that the language evoked the real speech of the folk population.
In 1898, Dunbar collaborated with gifted African-American composer Will Marion Cook (1869-1944), who had studied violin at Oberlin Conservatory and composition with Antonin Dvorák at the National Conservatory in New York, to write the lyrics and libretto to a show called “Clorindy: The Origin of the Cake Walk.” “Clorindy” opened at the fashionable Casino Roof Garden on Broadway the summer of 1898. The show featured an all-black cast (no blackface) and was an immediate hit (the New York Times called it “sensational”). The most popular number was “Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd”...
The association of the phrase “Who Dat” with the New Orleans Saints began in 1983 as the brainchild of two brothers, Steve and Sal Monistere, who worked in a recording studio, First Take. According to Times-Picayune writer Dave Walker, Steve heard the “Who dat?” chant and decided to incorporate it into a radio spot featuring “When the Saints Go Marching In.” He recruited five Saints players (black and white) to chant “Who dat?” for the recording session, Dave Waymer, Brad Edelman, John Hill, Reggie Lewis and Louis Oubre. Aaron Neville sang. Once again, the phrase “Who dat” was promoted by black voices—this time long after the uncomfortable minstrel connotations had disappeared from the American cultural consciousness.