You’ve probably heard the phrase, “That’s as American as apple pie.” What else have Americans become famous for over their 250-year history?
Tap Dancing
American plantation owners often forbade enslaved Africans in the 1700s from playing instruments. So the enslaved created rhythms by stamping their feet. Immigrants from Ireland brought step dancing with them, and folks from England and Wales brought clog dancing. Dance forms merged and evolved into tap when dancers attached nails or coins to their shoes. Later, people attached metal plates.
Variety shows in the early 1900s included dynamic tap dancers like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. He was famous for tapping up and down stairs. The Nicholas Brothers leapt over each other and landed in splits while tap dancing in the 1940s. Movie star Fred Astaire blended ballroom dancing with tap, and actor Gene Kelly added touches of ballet.
Baseball
Immigrants also brought bat and ball games across the Atlantic. “Base-ball” was first mentioned in a British children’s book by John Newbery in 1744. A Little Pretty Pocket-Book depicted a game with posts for bases. The sport (also known as “rounders”) is played in a diamond-like layout, and players must touch posts to avoid getting out. Sound familiar?
Daniel “Doc” Adams was president of a “base ball club” in New York, and he helped make official rules in 1857. Thank him for fewer bruises. One new rule declared players could no longer be called out by having balls thrown at them! (We aren’t talking about pitching either!) They had to be tagged. In the 1920s, New York Yankee Babe Ruth made baseball more popular by sending home runs sailing over the outfield wall. Radio broadcasting brought games to the masses, and fans came out in droves.
Ranch Dressing
Do you dunk your carrots in ranch dip or dressing? Thank an American. While Steve Henson worked in plumbing in the 1950s, he helped make meals for his hungry crews in Alaska. He blended buttermilk, mayonnaise, herbs, and spices for a dressing. His workers loved it!
Mr. Henson later bought 120 acres of land in California and called it Hidden Valley Ranch. He hosted guests and served his dressing on salads at an on-site restaurant. People started requesting jars of the creamy concoction. Henson quickly realized his dressing was a bigger attraction than his guest rooms. He began selling and mailing packages of his herbs and spices. People from all 50 states and more than 30 countries bought them. That was in the late 1960s. Ranch is now the best-selling dressing in America.
Why? God gave each nation distinctives that reflect unique image-bearers and His good design. Thank Him for the many gifts He’s given to and through Americans.
Recommended Reading: For more trivia about America, read 50 States 5,000 Facts by National Geographic.
