Old Corn Meal, or Signor Cormeali, was an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 street vendor in New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 who became famous in the late 1830s for singing and dancing while he sold his wares. He is one of the earliest known African Americans to have had a documented influence on the development of blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 minstrelsy

Minstrelsy

Minstrelsy can refer to:* The music and poetry of the medieval minstrels.* The songs, dances, skits, and stagecraft of the 19th century American blackface minstrel show....

 specifically and American popular music

American popular music

American popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno,...

 in general.

Old Corn Meal was known for walking through New Orleans singing and dancing while he led his horse and cart and sold Indian corn meal. "Fresh Corn Meal", which he composed, was his signature song; he also did popular material from blackface acts like "Old Rosin the Beau" and "My Long Tail Blue". He was a natural baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

, but he could "easily [transform] into a ringing falsetto

Falsetto

Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

". His popularity led to an invitation to perform at the St. Charles Theatre in 1837. There he did a solo act alongside his horse and cart. Old Corn Meal performed there at least once more, in 1840.

White performers who did blackface acts probably borrowed material from Old Corn Meal. George Nichols

George Nichols

Blessed George Nichols was an English Catholic martyr.-Education:Born at Oxford in 1550, George Nichols entered Brasenose College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, in 1564 or 1565 where he received his B.A. degree in 1571. He went on to become an usher and a teacher at St...

, a blackface circus clown

Clown

Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...

 is one, as is Thomas D. Rice

Thomas D. Rice

Thomas Dartmouth Rice was a white performer and playwright who used African American vernacular speech, song, and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time.-Background:...

, whose "Corn Meal" skit most likely came from seeing Old Corn Meal's act during one of his visits to New Orleans in 1835, 1836 and 1838.