Black people living in the South in the 1800s created the game of bid whist by combining whist and bridge, two games initially played by white elites and enslavers. But the gag is: this remix was much more powerful than they knew.
Enslavers thought they were helping the enslaved learn to count cotton barrels, but it was the enslavers who were getting played. The game eventually spread to Black folk across the country.
The famous Pullman Porters helped spread bid whist across the United States. Bid whist eventually evolved into spades. While spades' exact origins are still being debated, the game has been linked to the Great Migration of the 1930s, and photographs show Black soldiers stationed in Germany after World War II playing spades.
Spades playing continues to be passed down through the generations. Gabrielle Hickmon's project, "How You Play Spades, Is How You Play Life," uses spades as a metaphor for Black life in the U.S., drawing parallels between being dealt a hand we can't control but strategizing and playing to the best of our ability while shaping a beautiful culture along the way.
Our ancestors modified the oppressor's card games to sustain, connect, and create endless joy for themselves. Let's keep finding ways to play the game and make it work for us.