Cakewalk meaning - What does cakewalk mean?

These dancers would do a Penny Jig, which the dancer would pay the fiddler a penny after dancing, trying to win the cake.

Who knew this pleasing game had such a murky and complicated past that demonstrated how African Americans opposed their oppressors? Although the exact year and location are still undetermined, oral histories from enslaved people assert that the cakewalk began in the enslaved quarters of Southern plantations.