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04/04/1859 Bryant's Minstrels debut 'Dixie' in New York City

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♫Dixie's Land♫ (1916 recording)

Bryant’s Minstrels premiered the song in a show at Mechanics’ Hall. The printed playbill called it “Dixie’s Land.” The final act of most minstrel shows of the time were blackface burlesques of mainstream theater, but "Dixie" and songs like it prompted an industry-wide revival of plantation-related material.