While the game of contract bridge as we know it today is rooted in a cruise ship journey taken by Vanderbilt, the history of bid whist starts much earlier – and it turns out that bid whist and black history are inseparably intertwined.

Here’s what I found out about the links between bid whist and black history this week.

Reading About Bid Whist

Bid whist as we know it appears to have spilled over to other cultures from London – and more or less during the time of the Civil War (1861 to 1865) according to several resources including SagePub.

Here, bid whist was said to have become a pastime for those under slavery, where it was eventually ingrained as a way to get together.

Further resources like Black America Web notes that the game of bid whist quickly boomed in popularity, and eventually became played by railroad porters; from railroad porters, the game eventually took off, with many wanting to imitate the success of the porters (and of course, the games they played).

Further in the future, the American Bridge Association (ABA) was formed in 1932 to administrate the rights and interests of bridge players who weren’t allowed at games in states which held segregation laws at the time.

Sometime after this, the game of Tonk also became popular in 30s and 40s Louisiana: Blues country.

• Looking for the basic rules of bid whist (Bicycle)?

Expressions within bid whist are a little different, perhaps owing to the origins of the game rooted in porters traveling between states: Thirteen successful tricks aren’t referred to as a Grand Slam, but a Boston instead.