THE DEVIL SPENDS CHRISTMAS EVE IN DIXIE

Andrew Dobson

Dr. Andrew Dobson was a well-known radio personality and journalist in Chicago during the 1930s. He appeared on local radio stations and nationally on NBC and CBS Radio. Referring to his abilities as an actor and as a comedian, Chicago newspaper editors called him “a Bert Williams . . . and Will Rogers of the Race all rolled into one.” Dobson played the role of Old Uncle Joe on radio station WJJD, where he delighted his audience with songs and a rhyming philosophy that focused on topics of the time. In 1935, the Chicago Defender invited Dobson to write a weekly column called “Uncle Joe Dobson’s Journal,” a blend of African American folklore and old-fashioned philosophy applied to the issues of the day.

In “The Devil Spends Christmas Eve in Dixie,” a poem published in 1934, Dobson uses the Christmas theme to bring attention to both the practice of lynching and to the Costigan-Wagner anti-lynching bill pending before the US Congress, one of several bills introduced in Congress between 1919 and 1935 as a response to the efforts of the NAACP to secure passage of a federal law outlawing the practice. Dobson was not alone in his commentary on lynching. Numerous writers, politicians, ministers, educators, musicians, and graphic artists used every opportunity to bring attention to the immoral and barbaric act. In 1939, Abel Meeropol, as Lewis Allan, wrote “Strange Fruit,” a protest against lynching and racial violence. The song describes the bodies of lynching victims hanging from trees in the South and was popularized in the 1940s by jazz singer Billie Holiday. Like Dobson and other public figures, Holiday called attention to the brutal practice and demanded that the American government put an end to it. Dobson suggests that Christmas is heralded as a time for peace and good will to all men, however, “The Devil Spends Christmas Eve in Dixie.”

The Devil Spends Christmas Eve in Dixie

Twas de night befo Christmas, where de devil holds sway

He ordered his imps to “knock off” fer de day

Says he: “Boys, bank yo fires. Put yo forks on de rack

We goin to America. We’ll be late gittin back

As dey celebrates Christmas I wants you’ll to see

I wants you to watch how dey decorates trees

You will heah Christmas Carols. You will see candles bright

Cause we goin to de place where dey celebrates right.

So put on yo wings. We’ll fly South through de air

You won’t need no coats cause dey’s plenty hell dere.

Some imps spied de Statue of Liberty below

Dey started to wonder and fly kinda slow.

De devil looked back and sed: “Hey! flap dem wings”

“Nev mine dat statue cause it don’t mean a thing.”

Well dey all kept a flyin til one imp up and spoke.

He yells to de devil sayin: “Pa, what’s dat smoke?”

De devil say: “Where?” Den he say: “Dats a cinch,”

“When dey’s bonfires in Dixie dey’s a black man to lynch.”

Den de imps started pointing, cryin: “Look on dem trees,”

“Dey jus loaded with humans. Will you splain all dat please?”

Den old Satan started talkin and a wavin his hands

Says: “Chillun, its Christmas and you in Dixie land.”

“Hate is so strong heah and love is so slack,

“Stead o lightin a candle dey sets fire to a black.”

“Mos folks hang dey presents den go off to bed,

“Dey use Negroes in Dixie and dey hangs em till dead.”

“Dey sings our kinda carols, songs of hate, greed and lust,

“Dey use mobs fer de choirs. Hear em now. My, what fuss.”

“De bass in de choir is de baying of hounds,

“De blacks scream sopraner as de mobs run em down.

Den de imps tuk de air with a screech and a yell

Sayin: “We headin fer home. Dis America is hell.”

“And dat,” sed de devil as he howled with glee,

“Is de land of de brave and de home of de free.”