Figure 1.-- Here we see unidentified twin girls have a session of jump rope at what looks like carnival grounds. They wear white outfits with bakck long stockings. Notice the chin straps with their bonnets. THe photograp is undated, but looks lke the 1900s.

Jumping or skipping ropes has ancienr origins. Jump rope in America seems to have originated in the Netherlands and made its way across the Atlantic when the Dutch established a colony in what is today known as New York. This Dutch settlers were the initial American jump ropers. It was the Dutch in the in the Hudson River Valley who practiced a diversion involving over one or two rope. Presunably it was a game popular in the Netherlands. Children in the Dutch colony enjoyedv jumping ropes in front of their homes. We do not know if there was a gender factor ivolved at the time. The children as they jumped enjoyed reciting rhymes and songs. After the English seized New Amsterdam, they noticed this activity which seemed a bit silly, especially as the sinhle sang in Dutch which they could not understand. It was the English a bit deriivly began calling the two rope variany--Double Dutch. We know little about the subsequent history of jump rope in America (18th and 19th century), but it clearly did not disappear. It had a real advantage in that all you needed to play was a length of rope and rope was a common commodity. With the advent of the family snap shot we see lots of children, most girls, jumkping ropke. We suspect it was common in the 19th century, nut photography was mostly confined to the studio. I remember it as a rather sedate activity for girls along with jacks and rollar skating (1940s-50s). I am notentirely sure why itbwas mostlky for girls. We think boys oteferred more competitive sports. Jump rope began an important part of inner-city culture. One source tells us, "Apartments and buildings were stacked and sandwiched together with sprawling pavement front yards. Girls would head to the sidewalks with their mothers' clotheslines, if possible still wet from laundry day, so that the ropes would be heavy enough to hit the ground just right." It then declined for a while as indoors television became all rage. Then Officer Ulysses F. Williams of the New York Police Department (NYPD) chose to use Double Dutch in his youth outreach programs (1973). He named it "Rope, not Dope", and its focus was to provide a positive activity that girls could enjoy. At the time there were not a lot od sptys actibities for girls. It was an instant success and girls begam organized Double Dutch teams.

Created: 2:23 AM 6/22/2019
Last updated: 2:23 AM 6/22/2019