(LOOTPRESS) – A viral social media post shared by former MSNBC host Joy Reid has brought renewed attention to the historical debate surrounding the Christmas classic “Jingle Bells.” Reid reposted a video to her 1.3 million Instagram followers that describes the holiday tune as having racist roots — a claim the academic whose research is referenced says misinterprets her work.
The video, which has been widely circulated, shows a man standing beside a historical marker in Medford, Massachusetts, where songwriter James Lord Pierpont is believed to have composed the song’s earliest version, “The One Horse Open Sleigh.” On-screen captions assert that the song was originally performed by white entertainers in blackface and intended to mock Black Americans. The clip also highlights Pierpont’s later service in the Confederate Army, connecting his biography to the claim of racist motivations.
“This is where a racist Confederate soldier wrote ‘Jingle Bells’ to make fun of Black people,” the video declares. It further alleges that Pierpont was financially struggling when he wrote the piece for minstrel shows in which white actors caricatured Black people “trying to participate in winter activities.”
Reid reposted the clip with the caption “Lord have mercy.”
Researcher Says Her Work Is Being Misrepresented
The video cites a 2017 academic paper, “The Story I Must Tell: ‘Jingle Bells’ in the Minstrel Repertoire,” published by Cambridge University Press and authored by Kyna Hamill, a scholar of performance history. Hamill’s research explores how early minstrel shows incorporated the song, but she has repeatedly stressed that her work has been mischaracterized by those claiming Pierpont wrote “Jingle Bells” with racist intent.
“The legacy of ‘Jingle Bells’ is a prime example of a common misreading of much popular music from the nineteenth century,” Hamill wrote in her study, noting that the song’s early performance history did intersect with minstrel traditions. However, she has clarified that the research does not conclude that Pierpont intended the song as racist mockery.
“I never said it was racist now,” Hamill told the Boston Herald in 2017, adding that she had no intention of policing what people choose to sing during the holidays.
Ongoing Debate Over the Song’s Past
While “Jingle Bells” remains one of the most widely recognized Christmas songs in the world, its ties to the minstrel era continue to fuel periodic debate, especially as social media users reexamine the cultural origins of long-celebrated traditions.
Reid’s repost has sparked another round of public discussion — and controversy — as both historians and the public grapple with how to contextualize 19th-century entertainment practices in a modern setting.
