WEBVTT - Why We Square Dance (Spoiler: White Supremacy) 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:19.365 School of Humans. Oh, welcome to filth on Fridays. Guys, 0:00:19.685 --> 0:00:23.925 pew pew, pew pew. It's a whole new season. Well, 0:00:23.965 --> 0:00:26.685 it's not a new season, it's like a new season metaphorically, 0:00:26.685 --> 0:00:32.085 it's literally the same second season. But whatever, did you 0:00:32.085 --> 0:00:36.285 guys have to square dance in elementary school? I did, 0:00:36.885 --> 0:00:42.645 and it was absolute hell, an absolute horror. The reason 0:00:42.685 --> 0:00:45.885 why was because our music teacher would always sort us 0:00:46.045 --> 0:00:50.245 by size, so whoever you were dancing with was gonna 0:00:50.245 --> 0:00:52.765 be about the same size as you. And when I 0:00:52.845 --> 0:00:55.965 was in elementary school, I was the tallest gal. And 0:00:56.045 --> 0:00:59.525 not only that, I was a little pudgche punch pudge Okay. 0:00:59.925 --> 0:01:02.605 I also wore these really ugly bucket hats and I 0:01:02.645 --> 0:01:06.245 would wear three watches at a time. And because I 0:01:06.365 --> 0:01:08.805 was this big, massive girl, I'd always get paired with 0:01:08.845 --> 0:01:12.485 a big, massive guy while all the other teeny tiny 0:01:12.605 --> 0:01:16.365 children dance together. And I hated that. I felt I 0:01:16.405 --> 0:01:19.085 was being so othered, Like why do we have to 0:01:19.125 --> 0:01:22.805 be paired with someone of the same size? No idea? 0:01:23.205 --> 0:01:26.405 Like was my elementary music teacher afraid that I'd do 0:01:26.605 --> 0:01:30.085 Si dough a tiny boy so hard that he'd be 0:01:30.205 --> 0:01:37.445 flung out into outer space or something. So, yeah, it 0:01:37.525 --> 0:01:40.805 was absolutely horrendous having the square dance and music class. 0:01:41.325 --> 0:01:44.245 But instead of blaming my music teacher for my negative 0:01:44.285 --> 0:01:48.605 square dancing experience, I've decided to be the bigger person 0:01:49.085 --> 0:01:52.925 and find even more people to blame. And who's at 0:01:52.965 --> 0:01:56.565 the top of my blame list, why none other than 0:01:56.685 --> 0:02:05.805 automobile mogul Henry Ford. Yeah, it's Henry Ford's fault that 0:02:05.845 --> 0:02:10.765 we had to square dance in elementary school. He loved 0:02:10.805 --> 0:02:16.045 square dancing. He thought square dancing represented the true spirit 0:02:16.205 --> 0:02:19.925 of America. It had fallen out of fashion and he 0:02:20.045 --> 0:02:25.325 was determined to revive the dance. And it wasn't just 0:02:25.365 --> 0:02:29.445 that he loved square dancing. He also did this in 0:02:29.485 --> 0:02:32.965 response to all the new types of music and dance 0:02:33.045 --> 0:02:39.325 coming out of the nineteen twenties. Specifically, he hated everything 0:02:39.365 --> 0:02:47.485 that had to do with jazz. Jazz to him was filthy, vile, disgusting, 0:02:48.165 --> 0:02:55.405 needlessly provocative. People were improvising, for Christ's sakes, and when 0:02:55.445 --> 0:02:58.525 people would listen to this music, they would do appalling 0:02:58.685 --> 0:03:02.405 things like the Charleston or they'd just be flapping their 0:03:02.565 --> 0:03:09.845 arms gyrating their pelvises. An abomination and extremely un American, 0:03:12.325 --> 0:03:16.645 and by Unamerican, what Henry Ford meant was that jazz 0:03:16.845 --> 0:03:20.205 was created and made by black people, and many of 0:03:20.205 --> 0:03:27.245 the writers and performers of jazz were Jewish. And Henry Ford, Yeah, 0:03:27.245 --> 0:03:30.085 he spent a lot of time building cars, but he 0:03:30.165 --> 0:03:32.765 also set aside plenty of free time to be a 0:03:32.805 --> 0:03:40.125 white supremacist. Yeah, so we're squear dancing because Henry Ford 0:03:40.205 --> 0:03:43.885 wanted us to be real Americans who do traditional old 0:03:44.005 --> 0:03:49.405 time white ass dancing. He wanted to promenade Americans back 0:03:49.445 --> 0:03:51.925 to the past where we stood in a line and 0:03:51.965 --> 0:03:55.085 the only thing that was jiggling was not our asses 0:03:55.325 --> 0:04:05.445 but our toes. Cree the theme song This is American Film. 0:04:05.565 --> 0:04:07.525 Then I'm Gabby Watts. Every week I tell you a 0:04:07.565 --> 0:04:12.485 filthy story from American history. This week's episode, Why We 0:04:12.605 --> 0:04:36.445 Square Dance spoilers white supremacy. Henry Ford grew up in Michigan, 0:04:36.885 --> 0:04:41.205 and there he spent his time tinkering with equipment, experimenting 0:04:41.645 --> 0:04:47.005 and building his own vehicles. He became an engineer working 0:04:47.085 --> 0:04:51.645 in Detroit, founded a few companies that failed until finally 0:04:51.805 --> 0:04:55.805 he produced the Model T. And what was special about 0:04:55.805 --> 0:05:01.045 that car? It was affordable, so After it came out 0:05:01.085 --> 0:05:04.685 in nineteen oh eight, it quickly became the most popular 0:05:04.765 --> 0:05:11.565 car in a man America. Henry Ford didn't just innovate automobiles. No, 0:05:12.325 --> 0:05:17.885 he also innovated work. He implemented the assembly line. He 0:05:17.965 --> 0:05:21.685 proposed the five day, forty hour work week. And some 0:05:21.725 --> 0:05:23.645 of you guys might be like, ough, he makes us 0:05:23.685 --> 0:05:26.085 go to work five times a week, what a bitch? 0:05:26.165 --> 0:05:28.645 Well before it was a lot worse. It was like 0:05:28.765 --> 0:05:32.605 six days, seven days a week, and sometimes people were 0:05:32.645 --> 0:05:37.085 working one bazillion hours. So actually he was pretty good 0:05:38.645 --> 0:05:42.525 because he liked people working less. He was like, when 0:05:42.525 --> 0:05:46.205 they work less, they'll be more productive, have higher morale. 0:05:47.245 --> 0:05:49.845 And not only that, if they have more leisure time, 0:05:50.365 --> 0:05:55.925 they will buy more stuff. And Ford he loved when 0:05:55.965 --> 0:06:00.725 people bought stuff. He loved consumerism, not just because he 0:06:00.765 --> 0:06:03.285 was a capitalist who was making a lot of money 0:06:03.285 --> 0:06:07.285 off of his cars. He also thought that consumerism would 0:06:07.405 --> 0:06:14.165 lead to world peace, because if you're buying stuff, you're 0:06:14.205 --> 0:06:20.045 gonna be too busy to start and fight in wars. Yeah, 0:06:20.485 --> 0:06:23.405 that's why women be shopping so much, because we're interested 0:06:23.445 --> 0:06:30.605 in world peace. Ford was a pacifist. He opposed World 0:06:30.605 --> 0:06:33.605 War One, even though his company ended up making a 0:06:33.605 --> 0:06:38.165 lot of wartime vehicles and equipment. But guys, you shouldn't 0:06:38.245 --> 0:06:40.805 let your morality get in the way of making oodles 0:06:40.805 --> 0:06:46.165 of money. And here's a theory I have. I think 0:06:46.245 --> 0:06:49.645 the reason that Henry Ford was so interested in making 0:06:49.725 --> 0:06:53.085 cars was because he had a lot of people he 0:06:53.165 --> 0:07:04.005 wanted to drive away from and or run over. Henry Ford, 0:07:04.205 --> 0:07:09.325 he wasn't just races. He was also extremely anti Semitic. 0:07:10.365 --> 0:07:14.845 Men can do at all. One thing that Ford did 0:07:14.845 --> 0:07:17.765 that seemed progressive at the time was that he hired 0:07:17.845 --> 0:07:20.965 thousands of black men to work at his factories in Detroit, 0:07:22.325 --> 0:07:25.525 and when they first started, he paid his black employees 0:07:25.605 --> 0:07:29.045 the same as his white employees. But if you can 0:07:29.165 --> 0:07:34.565 believe it, that didn't last because Ford was super opposed 0:07:34.565 --> 0:07:38.925 to unions, effectively cutting off people from advocating for better 0:07:38.965 --> 0:07:43.765 working conditions rights having any say in the business, and 0:07:43.845 --> 0:07:47.725 the labor was often dangerous, so he didn't listen to 0:07:47.765 --> 0:07:50.205 his employees when they complained, being like, hey, I might 0:07:50.245 --> 0:07:53.325 lose my arm or die in your factory. And he 0:07:53.445 --> 0:07:57.805 especially didn't listen to his employees who were black. He 0:07:57.885 --> 0:08:01.605 also aggressively surveiled his black employees while they were working, 0:08:02.045 --> 0:08:04.325 and then he even hired people to spy on them 0:08:04.365 --> 0:08:07.485 outside of work. If they're getting into stuff he didn't 0:08:07.525 --> 0:08:12.845 approve of, he'd fire them. And throughout the nineteen twenties, 0:08:12.885 --> 0:08:16.845 the jobs for black workers and white workers started segregating, 0:08:17.845 --> 0:08:22.525 and the black employees were disproportionately assigned to more dangerous jobs, 0:08:23.365 --> 0:08:26.165 jobs that also didn't get as much pay as jobs 0:08:26.205 --> 0:08:31.165 white employees were assigned to. And also in general, Ford 0:08:31.245 --> 0:08:34.845 was just really paternalistic to his black employees, like with 0:08:34.925 --> 0:08:37.725 the surveillance, he was like, I tell you what to 0:08:37.765 --> 0:08:44.885 do at work and outside of work. And of course 0:08:45.325 --> 0:08:51.805 Henry Ford was so anti semitic. How anti semitic was he? Well, 0:08:52.445 --> 0:08:56.405 Hitler gave him a shout out in his autobiographical manifesto 0:08:56.605 --> 0:09:05.205 Mind comp Now that's someone you want to compliment from. 0:09:05.485 --> 0:09:10.325 In nineteen nineteen, Ford bought a newspaper called The Dearborn Independent, 0:09:10.805 --> 0:09:15.605 based in a suburb of Detroit. He bought this newspaper 0:09:15.685 --> 0:09:19.965 because he wanted an outlet to express his opinions. You know, 0:09:20.085 --> 0:09:23.445 sometimes people write in a diary. Other people need a 0:09:23.445 --> 0:09:27.445 whole newspaper. Have you guys heard of this rich people 0:09:27.525 --> 0:09:31.645 buying newspapers so that they can express their opinions. What's 0:09:31.725 --> 0:09:38.245 up Washington Post? And Ford's main opinions were about pacifism 0:09:38.605 --> 0:09:42.165 and anti Semitism, which you wouldn't think those things would 0:09:42.165 --> 0:09:46.045 go hand in hand, being anti violence but also hating 0:09:46.085 --> 0:09:50.165 a group of people. It's like owning a prius that 0:09:50.285 --> 0:09:53.765 saves the environment but using it to run over people. 0:09:55.285 --> 0:09:59.445 And why did Henry Ford hate Jewish people? Well, nothing 0:09:59.485 --> 0:10:02.925 can actually justify your bigotry, so if you can believe it, 0:10:03.005 --> 0:10:07.045 his reasons were really stupid. First, he was convinced that 0:10:07.125 --> 0:10:10.845 Jewish people were trying to take over the world. Why 0:10:10.845 --> 0:10:13.405 did he think this because of a book called the 0:10:13.485 --> 0:10:17.485 Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was a fabricated 0:10:17.605 --> 0:10:22.205 text published in Russia in nineteen oh three. So he 0:10:22.285 --> 0:10:24.565 read a fake book and was like, look, the Jews 0:10:24.605 --> 0:10:29.205 are trying to have world domination. So if you're one 0:10:29.245 --> 0:10:31.925 of those people who are like, wow, everyone is so 0:10:32.165 --> 0:10:37.845 media illiterate nowadays, don't worry. We've always lacked media literacy. 0:10:41.005 --> 0:10:45.285 Ford was convinced that the Jews controlled the banks, specifically 0:10:45.365 --> 0:10:50.165 this nebulous idea of the International Bank. And then he 0:10:50.245 --> 0:10:53.725 was like, the international Bank is what's responsible for the 0:10:53.805 --> 0:10:57.405 United States entering World War One and inciting the war 0:10:57.765 --> 0:11:03.205 for their own benefit. So Ford bought The Dearborn Independent 0:11:03.285 --> 0:11:07.085 because he needed to warn the American people, I mean 0:11:07.125 --> 0:11:11.245 specifically people in Michigan about the scourge of the American Jew. 0:11:12.085 --> 0:11:15.165 He's like, watch out, they're in kahoots to take over 0:11:15.205 --> 0:11:19.805 the world. And he was not subtle at all about 0:11:19.805 --> 0:11:24.165 his anti semitism. From nineteen twenty to nineteen twenty seven, 0:11:24.565 --> 0:11:27.805 the front page of the weekly paper featured a series 0:11:27.885 --> 0:11:36.365 called The International Jew The World's Problem. Of course, many 0:11:36.405 --> 0:11:40.645 people hated the newspaper, and after he started the series 0:11:40.685 --> 0:11:44.045 The International Jew the World's Problem, a lot of people 0:11:44.085 --> 0:11:49.885 started protesting the newspaper. It was removed from libraries and 0:11:49.925 --> 0:11:55.605 people were boycotting Ford automobiles, and very briefly he stopped 0:11:55.645 --> 0:11:58.885 the series, but less than a year later he sneakily 0:11:58.965 --> 0:12:03.525 started it up again. He's like, they're not gonna notice 0:12:03.565 --> 0:12:08.165 that I'm spouting this hateful red rick. But they did, 0:12:09.365 --> 0:12:12.765 and actually his anti semitism led to the downfall of 0:12:12.805 --> 0:12:17.285 the newspaper. Isn't that nice when a bad guy gets 0:12:17.325 --> 0:12:21.165 what's coming to him. I feel like that rarely happens today. 0:12:21.285 --> 0:12:24.725 But what happened was in April nineteen twenty four, the 0:12:24.765 --> 0:12:28.645 newspaper started publishing pieces about this attorney named Aaron Sapiro, 0:12:29.445 --> 0:12:32.605 and Sapiro was like, guys, you know what you're writing 0:12:32.645 --> 0:12:35.365 about me are just full on lies, So I'm gonna 0:12:35.445 --> 0:12:39.485 sue you for libel. Dumbasses. That's why you don't go 0:12:39.525 --> 0:12:44.805 after lawyers. They know the law. Henry Ford was supposed 0:12:44.805 --> 0:12:47.685 to appear in court, but instead of doing that, because 0:12:47.725 --> 0:12:51.045 there's this whole media circus about it, he just shut 0:12:51.085 --> 0:12:55.485 down the newspaper and agreed to a settlement. Part of 0:12:55.525 --> 0:12:59.005 that settlement was he had to release a formal apology 0:12:59.125 --> 0:13:02.485 to Sapiro, and being the little bitch that he was, 0:13:02.925 --> 0:13:06.485 he didn't even write the apology himself, but he did 0:13:06.485 --> 0:13:11.565 have to give Sapiro a lot of money, and you'd think, wow, 0:13:11.965 --> 0:13:15.805 justice has been served. Henry Ford won't be able to 0:13:15.845 --> 0:13:21.405 poison the world with his anti Semitism now. Not exactly, 0:13:22.925 --> 0:13:26.285 because even though he lost his newspaper, he was still 0:13:26.325 --> 0:13:28.805 doing a lot of other stuff to try to prevent 0:13:28.885 --> 0:13:33.925 Jewish people from taking over the world, because he saw 0:13:33.965 --> 0:13:37.365 the threat of the American jew coming from everywhere. He 0:13:37.445 --> 0:13:41.845 blamed all things modern on the Jews, from women wearing 0:13:41.885 --> 0:13:47.045 shorter skirts to the general blooster societal norms of the time, 0:13:48.285 --> 0:13:55.285 and one of the biggest threats out there jazz. Okay, 0:13:55.365 --> 0:13:58.445 let's make Henry Ford's ghost really upset and play some 0:13:58.685 --> 0:14:08.925 jazz music. Oh God, ghost screams, turn that racket off. 0:14:12.125 --> 0:14:14.805 Here's what one of those articles in The Dearborn Independence 0:14:14.845 --> 0:14:19.685 said about jazz in nineteen twenty one. Many people have wondered, 0:14:19.805 --> 0:14:23.245 whence come the waves upon waves of musical slush that 0:14:23.365 --> 0:14:26.285 invade decent homes and set the young people of this 0:14:26.445 --> 0:14:32.165 generation imitating the drivel of morons. Popular music is a 0:14:32.245 --> 0:14:37.965 Jewish monopoly. Jazz is a Jewish creation. The mush, slush, 0:14:38.285 --> 0:14:43.925 the sly suggestion, the abandoned sensuousness of sliding notes are 0:14:43.965 --> 0:14:50.765 of Jewish origin. Yes, he thought that jazz was making 0:14:50.845 --> 0:14:56.765 everyone stupid. It was making people sensual and heaven forbid sexual, 0:14:58.045 --> 0:15:03.245 driving good Americans into a frenzy. Jazz must be stopped. 0:15:07.565 --> 0:15:11.165 But the real moron in this situation was Henry Ford, 0:15:11.965 --> 0:15:15.365 Because yeah, he was being bigoted against the Jews, but 0:15:15.405 --> 0:15:21.005 the Jews didn't even create jazz music. Black people created jazz. 0:15:21.725 --> 0:15:25.325 What a dumbass like, Yeah, there are a lot of 0:15:25.445 --> 0:15:29.085 Jewish performers and writers, but there are also even more 0:15:29.205 --> 0:15:33.045 black performers and writers. So Henry Ford, he wasn't just 0:15:33.125 --> 0:15:39.285 being bigoted, he was also being real dumb. Henry Ford 0:15:39.405 --> 0:15:46.125 wasn't even fact checking his racism either way. He hated it, 0:15:46.525 --> 0:15:51.005 hated that jazz crap. So what did Henry Ford do 0:15:51.085 --> 0:15:54.885 to combat the evils of jazz? Well, he was determined 0:15:54.925 --> 0:15:57.125 to bring us back to the good old days when 0:15:57.165 --> 0:16:01.285 America was great without the filth of that terrible music, 0:16:02.005 --> 0:16:04.525 where people were listening to music that made them dance 0:16:04.565 --> 0:16:08.445 and act appropriate music that would make you dance in 0:16:08.525 --> 0:16:25.125 a square be right back after these soothing advertisements. Henry 0:16:25.165 --> 0:16:29.845 Ford hated modernity. He wanted the country to return to 0:16:29.965 --> 0:16:35.725 a pastoral, good old boy past, you know, before Jewish 0:16:35.725 --> 0:16:41.365 immigration exponentially increased in the late nineteenth century, and perhaps 0:16:41.405 --> 0:16:46.005 even when black people were still enslaved. The fact that 0:16:46.045 --> 0:16:49.205 Henry Ford was thirsty and nostalgic for this old time 0:16:49.245 --> 0:16:56.165 America was really hypocritical because he hated farming. He grew 0:16:56.245 --> 0:16:59.125 up on a farm, and he said in his autobiography 0:16:59.685 --> 0:17:02.005 that the only thing he liked about farming was that 0:17:02.045 --> 0:17:06.125 it reminded him of his deceased mother. He said, I 0:17:06.205 --> 0:17:09.645 never had any particular love for the farm. It was 0:17:09.685 --> 0:17:15.005 the mother on the farm I loved. He's like, oh, Mommy, 0:17:15.165 --> 0:17:19.325 how I miss you. But thank gonna see you're gone 0:17:19.365 --> 0:17:22.125 so that you don't have to see the horrors of 0:17:22.485 --> 0:17:29.085 jazz music. And even though he hated farming, he was like, 0:17:29.085 --> 0:17:32.685 that's when America was great, you know, that's when ladies 0:17:32.685 --> 0:17:36.525 were wearing long skirts and I only had to hear 0:17:36.645 --> 0:17:40.085 music played by fiddles and shit, none of this jazz 0:17:40.165 --> 0:17:46.205 crap existed. Jazz is so evil, you know. It's music 0:17:46.245 --> 0:17:50.205 that's played in a wide variety of time signatures. People 0:17:50.245 --> 0:17:53.685 were improvising, which we all know. If you improvise, that's 0:17:53.685 --> 0:17:56.365 how the devil gets into your soul. Like, how do 0:17:56.445 --> 0:17:58.805 people come up with those notes so fast? It's because 0:17:58.845 --> 0:18:02.925 their soul is tethered to hell. Hell makes you creative. 0:18:05.765 --> 0:18:09.885 Board started collecting old farming equipment and antiques, and that 0:18:10.045 --> 0:18:13.245 wasn't all. He was like, I need to remind people 0:18:13.285 --> 0:18:17.205 how great life used to be when everyone was dancing 0:18:17.565 --> 0:18:25.165 in an appropriate manner. So around the same time he 0:18:25.205 --> 0:18:29.205 was publishing his anti semitic newspaper in Dearborn. He bought 0:18:29.245 --> 0:18:32.605 several historic ends there and made it a hub of 0:18:32.725 --> 0:18:37.245 old time music and dance. He hired a dance master 0:18:37.805 --> 0:18:42.085 an old time dance orchestra. He then paid for old 0:18:42.125 --> 0:18:46.765 time dance to be introduced into surrounding schools and universities. 0:18:47.885 --> 0:18:51.045 He was like, hey, guys, you can use this as good, classic, 0:18:51.845 --> 0:18:57.525 pure physical education. He said that square dancing provides quote, 0:18:57.645 --> 0:19:04.725 social training, courtesy, good citizenship, along with rhythm, though nothing 0:19:04.765 --> 0:19:10.485 too complicated. Remember this is white people dancing. He hosted 0:19:10.485 --> 0:19:15.165 fiddle competitions, made an old time music radio series, made 0:19:15.205 --> 0:19:19.245 films about old time musicians, and he and his wife 0:19:19.285 --> 0:19:24.245 even wrote and distributed old time dance manuals. And here's 0:19:24.285 --> 0:19:27.445 another bad thing about working in a Ford factory, besides 0:19:27.485 --> 0:19:30.725 the racism and the paternalism, was he also made his 0:19:30.845 --> 0:19:36.285 employees attend square dancing events. Don't you guys hate it 0:19:36.325 --> 0:19:38.565 when you've been toiling at a factory all day and 0:19:38.565 --> 0:19:40.525 then your boss is like, now you gotta do some 0:19:40.645 --> 0:19:44.325 dosey do promenade. Twirl your partner, but don't twirl her 0:19:44.405 --> 0:19:46.525 too hard. That would be crazy. We don't want anyone 0:19:46.565 --> 0:19:52.005 to get dizzy. Dizziness is bad ergo also created by 0:19:52.045 --> 0:19:58.765 the Jews. So Henry Ford, he thought that consumerism would 0:19:58.845 --> 0:20:03.445 lead to world peace. Ha ha ha ha ha he 0:20:02.805 --> 0:20:09.045 he he he. And he also thought that dancing was 0:20:09.125 --> 0:20:13.085 great for the body and the spirit, and one of 0:20:13.125 --> 0:20:16.405 the dance manuals he and his wife wrote, he was like, 0:20:16.485 --> 0:20:19.845 dancing is great. It has the quote tendency to allay 0:20:19.965 --> 0:20:25.165 nervous trouble. It can improve health. It's an important cultural 0:20:25.245 --> 0:20:30.005 and social diversion. But of course, he was like, it 0:20:30.005 --> 0:20:32.725 has to be a certain kind of dancing. Other dance 0:20:32.725 --> 0:20:36.565 could corrupt you. He called square dancing and other folk 0:20:36.685 --> 0:20:44.725 dances the style of dancing which best fits the American temperament. Yes, 0:20:44.885 --> 0:20:50.005 Americans should just dance in a square. We should only 0:20:50.045 --> 0:20:53.685 be dancing to beats of four and sometimes three if 0:20:53.685 --> 0:20:56.565 we're feeling naughty and want to do a waltz. But 0:20:56.685 --> 0:21:01.405 nothing else. In the dance manual, he also tried to 0:21:01.525 --> 0:21:06.845 rationalize why this new dancing was bad. He said, dancing 0:21:06.885 --> 0:21:10.845 to jazz, or as he called it, ultra modern dancing, 0:21:12.005 --> 0:21:15.365 has a one on one quality. He said, It begins 0:21:15.365 --> 0:21:19.125 and ends with a single couple, no more as necessary, 0:21:19.605 --> 0:21:24.845 the group's spirit of fun is absent. He was also 0:21:25.005 --> 0:21:31.485 like this, dancing takes place in cramped, crowded, possibly sweaty rooms, 0:21:33.485 --> 0:21:36.805 he said. Dancing that inspires the group's spirit of fun 0:21:36.965 --> 0:21:41.965 requires room. Rooms in cities, especially in cabarets, are expensive. 0:21:42.525 --> 0:21:45.405 Hence the form of dancing has been encouraged that enables 0:21:45.445 --> 0:21:49.085 the largest possible number of paining couples to dance together 0:21:49.245 --> 0:21:54.085 in the smallest possible space. The result is that, in 0:21:54.125 --> 0:21:57.045 the modern method, the movement of the dance is mostly 0:21:57.125 --> 0:22:03.405 above the feet. That's right. Jazz dancing and other modern 0:22:03.485 --> 0:22:09.925 dances have people dancing above their dogs, above their toesies, 0:22:10.365 --> 0:22:14.685 above their foots. What a terrible thought. You guys know 0:22:14.725 --> 0:22:21.005 what's above the feet, hips, waists, arms, chests, and worst 0:22:21.045 --> 0:22:25.765 of all, genitals. Henry Ford's like, God, the steaks couldn't 0:22:25.805 --> 0:22:31.165 be higher. People are dancing with their pelvis? Is Ford 0:22:31.245 --> 0:22:33.525 believe that the only part of your body that should 0:22:33.605 --> 0:22:39.925 touch another body during dancing was the arms? Anything else 0:22:40.325 --> 0:22:46.405 was inappropriate and Unamerican? Isn't it great when people disguise 0:22:46.565 --> 0:23:00.805 racism and anti semitism with propriety and patriotism. Of the 0:23:00.885 --> 0:23:06.045 many ironies in his square dancing campaign is that what 0:23:06.365 --> 0:23:12.005 Ford thought of as square dancing was actually created by 0:23:12.125 --> 0:23:19.325 black people and Antebellum America often enslaved people were forced 0:23:19.325 --> 0:23:24.965 to dance at white balls as ornaments, you know, but 0:23:25.165 --> 0:23:29.765 usually they didn't have any dance training, so they would 0:23:29.765 --> 0:23:32.285 have to observe, you know, the dances of the time, 0:23:32.405 --> 0:23:37.845 the French quadrille, etc. And then adapt them because they 0:23:37.885 --> 0:23:41.885 had no instruction. Like in square dancing, there's all this 0:23:42.005 --> 0:23:45.645 call and response, and black people were actually the people 0:23:45.805 --> 0:23:54.125 who started doing that. So again, Henry Ford is bigoted 0:23:54.965 --> 0:24:00.165 and also stupid. Another big irony to all of this 0:24:00.365 --> 0:24:04.285 is that he hated modernity, and yet he was the 0:24:04.325 --> 0:24:09.565 one who created an affordable car that people could buy, 0:24:09.605 --> 0:24:14.805 thus propelling everyone into a more modern era where you 0:24:14.845 --> 0:24:18.325 could just scoot around, and if you could scoot around, 0:24:19.205 --> 0:24:21.365 it was easier to get up to all sorts of 0:24:21.525 --> 0:24:29.405 modern business. But Henry Ford was probably like, oh, but 0:24:29.765 --> 0:24:31.885 I just wanted people to use my cars so they 0:24:31.885 --> 0:24:34.445 could drive real fast to like church, or to like 0:24:34.525 --> 0:24:38.285 the barn, or to like, you know, stores that sell 0:24:38.365 --> 0:24:44.725 really long skirts for women. At first, a lot of 0:24:44.765 --> 0:24:50.525 people saw his square dancing crusade as homie as missionary 0:24:50.605 --> 0:24:54.485 work is innocent, just a guy who wanted to do 0:24:54.565 --> 0:25:00.085 some harmless old time cracker barrel style living. And with 0:25:00.205 --> 0:25:04.085 his efforts, square dancing did catch on for a few years, 0:25:05.485 --> 0:25:07.565 and it would have been really embarrassing if it didn't 0:25:07.645 --> 0:25:11.205 because he was funneling so much money into square dance 0:25:11.325 --> 0:25:15.285 education across the country. He was so desperate for the 0:25:15.325 --> 0:25:20.765 square dance. He's like a square dance simp. And yeah, 0:25:20.805 --> 0:25:25.445 square dancing did catch on for a little bit, but 0:25:25.685 --> 0:25:33.365 unfortunately it didn't last. Oh no, no, square dancing could 0:25:33.365 --> 0:25:39.685 not compete with the rhythm and the fun of jazz. Sorry, 0:25:39.765 --> 0:25:44.085 Henry Ford, Maybe you should have introduced some other shapes 0:25:44.085 --> 0:25:47.485 to square dancing. Maybe a circle if you're feeling crazy, 0:25:47.565 --> 0:25:51.445 maybe a triangle. Maybe you should have let people shake 0:25:51.565 --> 0:25:56.085 their asses a little bit, like just a hint of jiggle. 0:25:58.365 --> 0:26:00.205 And wouldn't it be nice if that was the end 0:26:00.205 --> 0:26:04.245 of the story, that Ford failed to bring square dancing 0:26:04.405 --> 0:26:08.925 back to its zen in American culture, that his beliefs 0:26:09.005 --> 0:26:13.685 rooted in white supremacy were thwarted. That would be nice 0:26:13.725 --> 0:26:16.125 if it was the end of the story. But unfortunately 0:26:16.245 --> 0:26:21.005 for us, and specifically for me, in my elementary school 0:26:21.165 --> 0:26:24.445 music classroom, which, by the way, was not a classroom, 0:26:24.485 --> 0:26:28.925 it was a trailer outside. Ford's crusade for square dancing 0:26:29.445 --> 0:26:31.685 inspired a bunch of other people to get on the 0:26:31.765 --> 0:26:35.525 square dancing bandwagon and try to make it a thing again. 0:26:40.925 --> 0:26:43.605 One of these crusaders for square dancing was this guy 0:26:43.685 --> 0:26:47.805 named Lloyd Shaw. He was also known as doctor Lloyd 0:26:47.925 --> 0:26:52.045 Pappy Shaw. I don't think he was actually a doctor though. 0:26:53.245 --> 0:26:57.165 Maybe he was a pappy though. And the nineteen thirties 0:26:57.165 --> 0:27:00.885 and forties he traveled across the country with a dance 0:27:00.925 --> 0:27:03.485 show that advocated for square dancing to be part of 0:27:03.485 --> 0:27:08.005 physical education. There are also other folk dancing groups that 0:27:08.085 --> 0:27:12.365 started advocating for square dancing to become the national folk dance. 0:27:13.605 --> 0:27:18.685 But there was infighting amongst the square dance community because 0:27:18.685 --> 0:27:22.325 over the decades a new version of square dancing emerged 0:27:22.485 --> 0:27:26.925 called modern Western square dancing, and the folk purists were like, 0:27:26.965 --> 0:27:30.685 that's not real square dancing. They're like, it's a bastardization 0:27:30.805 --> 0:27:35.685 of it. Sometimes in modern Western square dancing they don't 0:27:35.685 --> 0:27:39.165 even have a live fiddle player. If you don't have 0:27:39.205 --> 0:27:42.565 a fiddler, how can you even dance? And sometimes with 0:27:42.645 --> 0:27:45.685 modern Western square dancing. They just danced to recorded music. 0:27:45.765 --> 0:27:51.205 That's disgusting to think. If we keep doing modern Western 0:27:51.245 --> 0:27:54.565 square dancing, we won't be able to employ all of 0:27:54.565 --> 0:28:00.565 the fiddlers. The fiddlers need jobs. Despite their differences, the 0:28:00.605 --> 0:28:05.925 square dancer rallied and when Ronald Reagan was president, not 0:28:06.005 --> 0:28:09.565 only did he introduce crack into neighborhoods, he also signed 0:28:09.565 --> 0:28:12.565 a bill that made square dancing the national folk dance. 0:28:13.925 --> 0:28:17.125 The bill said, the American people value the display of 0:28:17.165 --> 0:28:20.285 etiquette among men and women, which is a major element 0:28:20.365 --> 0:28:24.485 of square dancing. It's a traditional form of family recreation 0:28:25.165 --> 0:28:31.005 that dissolves arbitrary social distinctions. Actually, what it was supposed 0:28:31.045 --> 0:28:35.645 to do was make everybody white. But unfortunately for the 0:28:35.645 --> 0:28:39.485 square dancers, that bill only made square dancing the national 0:28:39.525 --> 0:28:42.245 folk dance between the years nineteen eighty two and nineteen 0:28:42.285 --> 0:28:49.165 ninety three. But the square dancers couldn't be stopped, and 0:28:49.205 --> 0:28:55.125 they sasheyed their way to the states. They started law 0:28:55.205 --> 0:28:58.765 being legislators at the state level to make square dance 0:28:58.765 --> 0:29:03.405 their official state folk dance. And it was pretty easy 0:29:03.405 --> 0:29:07.165 to do because most states didn't have official folk dance. 0:29:08.405 --> 0:29:13.605 And so today square dancing is the official state dance 0:29:15.005 --> 0:29:22.045 in thirty one states, and so unfortunately, Henry Ford got 0:29:22.085 --> 0:29:25.445 his way and many of us had to grow up 0:29:25.485 --> 0:29:33.165 square dancing, which was humiliating and also originated from white supremacy. 0:29:36.005 --> 0:29:40.525 I think this story does illustrate something about racists. They're 0:29:40.645 --> 0:29:44.125 very persistent and sometimes they can be creative in the 0:29:44.165 --> 0:29:48.925 way that they like to legally enshrine white supremacy. Henry 0:29:48.925 --> 0:29:52.405 Ford did it with dancing and also just by having 0:29:52.445 --> 0:29:57.245 a shit ton of money. But something cool that's happening 0:29:57.325 --> 0:30:00.125 right now is I think square dancing line dancing is 0:30:00.165 --> 0:30:05.085 being reclaimed. We're shifting the narrative because recently one of 0:30:05.125 --> 0:30:08.645 my friends, Bushwick, was at a lesbian bar and there's 0:30:08.685 --> 0:30:11.845 a bunch of diverse lesbians learning how to line dance 0:30:11.885 --> 0:30:18.085 and square dance. Yes, diverse lesbians. Henry Ford would have 0:30:18.205 --> 0:30:22.645 hated that. He probably couldn't even comprehend the idea of 0:30:22.725 --> 0:30:29.045 diverse lesbians. Every episode of American filth we learn a lesson, 0:30:29.165 --> 0:30:31.525 and I think the lesson we learn in this episode 0:30:32.405 --> 0:30:36.485 is that perhaps it's pretty easy to change the state dance. Like, 0:30:36.525 --> 0:30:38.965 I'm from Georgia, grew up there. That's where I had 0:30:38.965 --> 0:30:43.805 to square dance. And I'm thinking it's time for a change. 0:30:43.925 --> 0:30:49.445 I'm from Atlanta, the home of krunk music. I'm thinking 0:30:49.485 --> 0:30:53.045 it's time to change Georgia State dance from square dancing 0:30:53.685 --> 0:30:59.805 to the Soldier Boy. Because what's really more valuable learning 0:30:59.845 --> 0:31:04.565 how to promenade dosey dough sachet but not in a 0:31:04.645 --> 0:31:08.005 gay way? Or is it more valuable to learn how 0:31:08.045 --> 0:31:11.845 to superman on these hoes? Anyway, any of you guys 0:31:11.925 --> 0:31:13.685 in Georgia let me know if you want to get 0:31:13.685 --> 0:31:17.565 in cahoots to change the state dance. Cue the credits. 0:31:23.165 --> 0:31:25.365 American Field is a production of School of Humans and 0:31:25.405 --> 0:31:28.845 iHeart Podcasts. This episode was written, hosted, and produced by 0:31:28.885 --> 0:31:32.925 me Gabby Watts. The theme song is by Jesse and Eiswanger. 0:31:33.085 --> 0:31:37.045