Kentucky July 4th Barbecue circa 1830

Wanted to share a 19th century July 4th country barbecue description I came across while doing research for my book, Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America (Columbia University Press, 2008). It’s interesting for what it says about race, class, food, and July 4th as a community event in rural early America:

The spot on which I witnessed the celebration of an anniversary of the glorious Proclamation of our Independence is situated on [the banks of Bear Grass Creek], near the city of Louisville . . . . The free, single-hearted Kentuckian, bold, erect, and proud of his Virginian descent, had” arranged for the whole neighborhood to celebrate Independence Day “with one consent. No personal invitation was required where everyone was welcomed by his neighbor, and from the governor to the guider of the plough all met with light hearts and merry faces . . . . For a whole week or more, many servants and some masters had been engaged in clearing an area. . . . Now the wagons were seen slowly moving along under their load of provisions, which had been prepared for the common benefit. Each denizen [citizen] had freely given his ox, his ham, his venison, his turkeys, and other fowls. Here were to be seen flagons [jugs] of every beverage used in the country . . . the melons of all sorts, peaches, plums, and pears, would have sufficed to stock a market. In a word, Kentucky, the land of abundance, had supplied a feast for her children. . . . Columns of smoke from the newly kindled fires rose above the trees; fifty cooks or more moved to and fro as they plied their trade; waiters of al qualities were disposing the dishes, the glasses, and the punch-bowls, amid vases filled with rich wines. . . . [T]he roasted viands [food] perfume the air, and all appearances conspire to predict the speedy commencement of a banquet such as may suit the vigorous appetite of American woodsmen. (John James Audubon Traveler and Naturalist (1785 –1851)

Today we Americans tend to do our July 4th barbecuing with family and a few invited friends and the fireworks part of the celebration is community wide. The source shows that the barbecue was a community and everyone pitched in and ate well! Special occasions like July 4th were one of those few days in the year when enslaved African Americans ate well and festivities and food lessened the distinction between blacks and whites and rich and poor whites ever so slightly.