Factoid of the day

Where does the term "cakewalk" come from?

Found this from a book of Mark Twain:

 Our negroes in America have several
ways of entertaining themselves which are not found among
the whites anywhere. Among these inventions of theirs is
one which is particularly popular with them. It is a competition
in elegant deportment. They hire a hall and bank the spectators'
seats in rising tiers along the two sides, leaving all the
middle stretch of the floor free. A cake is provided as a prize
 for the winner in the competition...The negroes have a
name for this grave deportment-tournament; a name taken
from the prize contended for. They call it a Cakewalk.


I seem to remember a short independent film of men dressing up in
 West Africa as a way to entertain at village feasts, so apparently it has
tribal origins.

(No, it's not something I've seen, but maybe because when I worked in
 West Africa, it was in Monrovia, not a tribal area).

the rest of Twain's book is a satire of a romanticized book on the poet
 Shelley...

another exerpt:

There is an insistent atmosphere of candor and fairness about this book
which is engaging at first, then a little burdensome, then a trifle
fatiguing, then progressively suspicious, annoying, irritating, and
oppressive. It takes one some little time to find out that phrases which
seem intended to guide the reader aright are there to mislead him; that
phrases which seem intended to throw light are there to throw darkness;
that phrases which seem intended to interpret a fact are there to
misinterpret it; that phrases which seem intended to forestall
prejudice are there to create it;

Sounds like things haven't changed much in 100 years...