In an unbearably long and dark period in America, where overt racism and legalized segregation (a legacy of slavery), governed the day, the “Happy Birthday” song was one of very few cultural traditions that was integrated. But the “Happy Birthday” song holds far greater significance than it’s sheer popularity. This celebratory tradition had grown so strong around the world that by the middle of the twentieth-century, it was already the most popular song in the English language.
Hill, two white American sisters and kindergarten teachers from Louisville, KY, “Happy Birthday to You,” or simply “Happy Birthday,” was sung everywhere in America for the marking of the anniversary of someone’s birthday. But the tradition of singing the “Happy Birthday To You” song to the birthday person dates back farther to 1893.
Singing Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday,” with the pulsing, rhythmic refrain: happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday…, has been a black American tradition at birthday parties since the early ‘80s.
