Square Dance History

A comprehensive history of square dancing should be included in the curriculum of schools in the United States of America in order to fully teach the youth.

The memory of awkwardly being paired up to learn how to square dance during elementary school days is one shared by many Americans. Gawkily bowing or curtsying, and then the bumbling footwork that followed the plethora of possible instructions are delightful highlights for those children who are taught the activity in schools around the nation. Folk dance is a popular unit in physical education classes of elementary schools in the United States of America. Sometimes, a brief summary of the dance is given before the gym teacher jumps into the rules and rhyme of the dance. This elaboration customarily

explains that the folk dance was very popular back in the 1900s and is a wholesome American form of exercise. The main man behind the revival of square dancing is a household name, Henry Ford. Most famous for automaking, he create the Ford Motor Company. But another success of his was his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent.

In 1919, Ford bought the company, also stationed in the town that harbored the headquarters of his car making business, Dearborn, Michigan. Another infamous tidbit, though not as widely known as his accomplishments in the automotive industry, was that Henry Ford was anti-Semitic. As described by Merriam-Webster, anti-Semitism is hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. Commonly referred to as the Independent, the newspaper was tainted with anti-semitic content, bigoted views, and white-supremacist propaganda. Selecting the most prominent stories from his newspapers Ford published four volumes of booklets called “The International Jew”. For ninety-one issues, his paper boasted stories focused on how horrible Jews are, conspiracies of the Jewish agenda, and other sinister takes on everyday happenings connecting them back to Jewish people. To have an even greater influence the newspaper was translated into other languages. One of the most popular languages was German, for the Nazis wanted to exhibit to his audiences that he and his supporters were not alone in their belief of the secret group of Jews who plan to take over the world. A

self-proclaimed admirer of Ford was the notorious Jew-hating Adolf Hitler. After reading the International Jew in 1931, Hitler said, “I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration”. Furthermore, Henry Ford is the only American to be referenced by name in Hitler’s political manifesto Mein Kampf. At the peak success of the newspaper in 1925 it had a circulation just shy of one million. But after a libel lawsuit in 1927, Ford shut down his newspaper after denying knowledge of the anti-semitism being broadcasted in his print. He blamed the content on his employees and claimed he did not read the stories. One of his editors went to trial for Ford to take heat off of him which allowed the automaker to escape any charges.
Ford’s view on Jews branched out to his belief that African Americans were palpable and under the influence of the Jewish. He held the belief that black people were the vessel to carry jazz music and corrupt America. To fight for his beliefs, Ford had a plan: square dancing. Square dancing was a way to cleanse. Henry Ford, the famed automaker and creator of the Ford Motor Company, believed that square dancing was a pure activity for which Americans could connect back to the goodness of their country, be taught tactfulness, and be cleansed of the evil that he thought was jazz music. Ford believed old-timey music was something all of America needed. Because of the exercise benefits, the teaching of rhythm, and the etiquette surrounding the dance, Ford required his employees to partake in the dance by hosting events for them.