Slaves Mocked Masters To Their Faces The cakewalk wasn't just a dance—it was brilliant resistance. In the 1800s, enslaved people on Southern plantations created a dance competition where they'd dress up, balance water buckets on their heads, and mock the stiff, pretentious mannerisms of their white slave owners with exaggerated high-stepping prances. Plantation owners watched, judged, and awarded cakes to winners—completely oblivious that they were being ridiculed. As one formerly enslaved perso