"A New Year's Day Contraband Ball at Vicksburg, Miss. The [African Americans] preserve all their African fondness for music and dancing, and in the modified form which they have assumed here have given rise to [African American] dancing and melodies in our theatres, a form of amusement which has enriched many."— Frank Leslie, 1896

Contraband Ball

"A New Year's Day Contraband Ball at Vicksburg, Miss. The [African Americans] preserve all their African…