Terms of the Day for October 19

• Cakewalk – dance that was developed from an older "Prize Walk" done in the days of slavery, generally at get-togethers on plantations in the Southern United States.  The dance is competitive, and originally a large and lavish cake was awarded to the winning couple.
• Negro Spirituals – religious (generally Christian) songs that were created by enslaved African people in the United States.  This songs are often mournful of the present world and highly praise God and the world to come.
• Double-consciousness – a term coined by W. E. B. Du Bois used to describe an individual whose identity is divided into several facets. Du Bois saw double consciousness as a useful theoretical model for understanding the psycho-social divisions existing within African American society.
• The Birth of a Nation –  a 1915 silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr.  The film follows the lives of two families through the Civil War, the Reconstruction period, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.