School Bans Singing of 'Jingle Bells' for Its Ties to Slavery

Jingle Bells James Lord Pierpont new york Council Rock Primary School Principal Matt Tappon slavery Council Rock school district Allison Rioux Kyna Hamill Boston University Simpson Tavern massachusetts blackface Boston minstrels

By Lili Scott , Parent Herald Dec 28, 03:12 am

Photo: (Photo : Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy's Inc.)

An elementary school in upstate New York has banned any singing or playing of the Christmas song "Jingle Bells" for its controversial ties that could offend some people.

Principal Matt Tarpon from the Council Rock Primary School with kindergarten to second-grade students told the school community in an email that "Jingle Bells" was tied to slavery, per a report from Rochester Beacon.

In particular, the song was said to have links with the use of collars with bells on Black slaves during the Confederate period. The jingling bells on their collars were supposed to alert their masters if they were running away.

The school district cited an article from Kyna Hamill, the director of the Core Curriculum at Boston University, who analyzed the popular Christmas song's origin.

The Story of 'Jingle Bells'

In 2017, Hamill published a 12,000-word study on the song from composer James Pierpont in the 1850s, who wrote it inside the Simpson Tavern. The said tavern's building in Massachusetts has a bronze plaque citing Pierpont's work.

According to Hamill's deep dive, Pierpont originally wrote "Jingle Bells" as a racy romantic song called "One Horse Open Sleigh," which sung about an unchaperoned date. Its original lyrics did not mention Christmas or the holidays, but Pierpont had copyrighted the song two years later because it became a popular Thanksgiving song.

However, devoted churchgoers changed some of the lyrics about pretty girls enjoying their date so the choirs could sing the song during services. The Boston minstrel performed the song in public in the late 1850s with white singers in blackface.

From there, the story about the slaves was tied to the song. Over the years, "Jingle Bells" became a global favorite, with the likes of Frank Sinatra adapting his own version.

Hamill said, however, that she's shocked by a school's directive to ban "Jingle Bells." She said she does not recommend that kids should stop singing the song.

Hamill told the Rochester Beacon that her article was mostly about the first public performance of "Jingle Bells" with the blackface minstrels. However, she does not connect that controversy to the singing of the popular Christmas song today. The expert also added that the use of bells for the slaves might be true, but she could not find any actual proof of its slavery connection with Pierpont's song.

'Not in Line with Our Beliefs'

Despite Hamill's statements, Allison Rioux of the Council Rock school district said they were still banning the song from the elementary school. While they cannot confirm its links to slavery, Rioux noted that the song goes against the school's beliefs in instilling the right values and culture in the kids.

The Council Rock school district wants the kids to grow up embracing diversity and inclusivity. On its school website underscoring diversity and equity is a declaration that "Jingle Bells" will no longer be part of the children's repertoire, along with eight other songs like "Jump Jim Joe" and the "Cumberland Gap," an Appalachian folk song.