Dixie
Dixie names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Dixie a famous song of the Southland
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a famous song of the Southland. Dixie was composed by Daniel C. Emmett, known familiarly as Dan Emmett. Mr. Emmett told the story of this stirring song as follows: The original title of my "Dixie" song was "I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land." It was written, or, rather, finished, when I was a member of Dan Bryant's minstrels, then located at Mechanics' Hall, 470 Broadway, New York City. I went with Bryant in '59, and "Dixie" was written a year later, but not on a rainy Sunday, as is generally supposed and certain Boswells have seen fit to put it. The idea for "Dixie" was conceived long before my joining Bryant. "I wish I was in Dixie" was a circus expression that I heard up North while traveling with canvas shows. In those days, all below the Mason and Dixon line was considered South, and it was a common occurrence, of a cold day, when traveling through the North, to hear a shivering circus man remark, "I wish I was in Dixie's land." "Dixie" never impressed me as being as good a song as "Old Dan Tucker," which was one of my first compositions, but "Dixie" caught on from the first, and before I knew it, it had taken the country by storm. We kept "Dixie" on for six seasons. I always look upon the song as an accident. One Saturday night, Dan Bryant requested me to write a walk-around for the following week. The time allotted me was unreasonably short, but, notwithstanding, I went to my hotel and tried to think out something suitable, but my thinking apparatus was dormant; then, rather than disappoint Bryant, I searched through my trunk and resurrected the manuscript of "I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land," which I had written years before. I changed the tempo and rewrote some of the verses, and in all likelihood, if Dan Bryant had not made that hurry-up request "Dixie" never would have been brought out. I wish I was in de land ob cotton, Old time dar am not forgotten, Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land. In Dixie Land whar I was born in, Early on one frosty mornin' Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land. Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray! In Dixie Land, I'll take my stand, To lib an' die in Dixie, Away! Away! Away down South in Dixie Away! Away! Away down South in Dixie. Old missus marry Will de weaber, William was a gay deceaber, Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land. But when he put his arm around 'er He smiled as fierce as forty pounder, Look away, etc. His face was sharp as a butcher's cleaber, But dat did not seem to greab her,--Look away, etc. Old missus acted de foolish part And died for a man dat broke her heart,--Look away, etc. Now here's a health to the next old missus, And all de gals dat want to kiss us,--Look away, etc. But if you want to drive 'way sorrow Come and hear dis song to-morrow,--Look away, etc. Dar's buckwheat cakes and Injun batter Make you fat or a little fatter, Look away, etc. Den hoe it down and scratch your grabble To Dixie Land I'm bound to trabble Look away, etc.
Dixie the Southern States
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the Southern States. The origin of the term is involved in dispute. Some hold that it is derived from the term, Mason and Dixon's line , that divided the slave from the free states. Others claim that the name sprang from a certain Dixie, a large slaveholder of Manhattan Island. He permitted his servants to enjoy life so well that Dixie or Dixie's became a traditional term in negro minstrelsy for a sort of earthly paradise.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's in 1910 could print Dan Emmett's own account of writing "Dixie" as an unquestioned fact and treat the song simply as "a famous song of the Southland." Emmett's sole authorship is no longer taken for granted: since the 1990s scholars have weighed the claim of the Snowden family, Black musicians of Knox County, Ohio, who were Emmett's neighbours and whose relatives said they had a hand in the tune. The song's public standing has changed far more. Long identified with the Confederacy, it has been dropped from official use across the South in recent decades — the University of Mississippi ended its performance at football games, and Dixie State University in Utah renamed itself Utah Tech University in 2022. The word "Dixie" for the Southern states survives in ordinary speech, and its origin is still disputed, though the tale of a kindly Manhattan slaveholder named Dixie carries little weight now.
Written for this edition, 2026.