miss mary mack and the slaves

Yes. Im back


The origin of the name Mary Mack is obscure, and various theories have been proposed. According to one theory Mary Mack originally was Merrimack (an early ironclad that would have been black, with silver rivets) suggesting that the first verse refers to the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War. In America, slave children would sometimes sing the hand-clapping song while they worked.

In some variations, she asks her mother for "15 cents" rather than 50. These variations may represent an earlier version of the song, which later changed because of the speed of the rhyme and the similarity of the spoken words "fifteen" and "fifty", and because there were few things one could buy with 15 cents in the later part of the 20th century.

Another possible origin of the song from the American Civil War could be from a famous Union ship taken over by the Confederate States Army named Miss Mary Mack.

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack (name of the ship)
All dressed in black, black, black (ironclad ships were popular at the time.)
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons (bolts)
All down her back, back, back (ships are referred to as females.)
She asked her mother, mother, mother (the Confederate States of America)
For fifteen cents, cents, cents
To see the elephants, elephants, elephants (elephants are the symbol of the Republican party, which was the majority of the North-the Union)
Jump over the fence, fence, fence (the boundary line)
They never came back, back, back
Until the fourth of july, ly, ly (American Independence Day)





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