Overview
- Joy Reid reposted a viral video asserting that the song, originally titled “The One Horse Open Sleigh,” was written to mock Black people, highlighting a plaque in Medford, Massachusetts tied to James Lord Pierpont.
- The clip claims lyrics such as “laughing all the way” likely reference a racist routine, a reading critics say is speculative and unsupported by direct evidence in the song’s text.
- The video draws on Kyna Hamill’s 2017 peer‑reviewed research documenting the earliest confirmed performance on September 15, 1857 at Boston’s Ordway Hall, a minstrel venue, with performer Johnny Pell and a sheet‑music dedication to venue owner John P. Ordway.
- Hamill says her work is being misrepresented and that she did not conclude the song was authored as racist mockery, emphasizing a focus on performance history rather than authorial intent.
- Coverage shows polarized reactions across media, including sharp criticism from right‑leaning outlets and a Fox News on‑air clarification during banter, with only isolated past school controversies noted and no broader policy shifts reported.