Figure 1.--This English girl had her portrait taken at A.E. and C Fox in Bradford and Elland, England negative no. 5125. At the times girls could have short hair and boys could weae dresses. We think this chils is a girl because of the flower basket on the table. The portrait is undated, but we would guess the 1880s. We are not sure about the gender conventions for jump rope in the 19th century.

There is evidence that jump ropes date back to ancient times. Here the history is incomplete. Unlike clay toys, rope toys quickly deteriorated. We know they were used in ancient times because Egyptian tomb paintings Egyptians show children jumping over vines. Some historians date this to 1600 BC. It is likely the same was true in many other ancient cultures although not recorded by paintings. Junp ropes were also reported in ancient China. Aborigines are know\n to use bamboo to skip. Medieval European paintings show children jumping through hoops. We are not sure when jump ropes first appeared in America. The fact that they were such a simple device suggests it was fairly early. Our earliest image comes from the late-19th century. There are many games that children cam play while jumping rope. At the turn of the century we note children singing jump rope rhymes while jumping at the same time. We are not sure about the gender conventions. Jump rope was essentially a girl's activity in the 1940s, at least in America. A factor here is that boys were more involved with sports. We are not sure about earlier years. Jump roping declined in popularity at mid-century, but there seems to have been a revival in the 1970s. We note mostly girls particupating in Double-Dutch competitions.

History

There is evidence that jump ropes date back to ancient times. Here the history is incomplete. Unlike clay toys, rope toys quickly deteriorated. We know they were used in ancient times because Egyptian tomb paintings Egyptians show children jumping over vines. Some historians date this to 1600 BC. It is likely the same was true in many other ancient cultures although not recorded by paintings. Junp ropes were also reported in ancient China. Aborigines are known to use bamboo to skip. Medieval European paintings show children jumping through hoops.

Modern History

We see jump ropes in the 19th century, but are not sure about how common they were. We see mostly girls Jump roping in America during the erly 20th century, but there may have been differences here from country to country. declined in popularity in the mid-20th century, but there seems to have been a revival in the 1970s.

Country Trends

We have some basic information om jump roping around the world. We are not sure when jump ropes first appeared in America. Apparently the Dutch brought it. The fact that they were such a simple device suggests it was fairly early. We note a lot of American girls jump roping in the early-20th century. At mid century jump roing, jacks, and tollar skating were major girl activities.There was a najor revival of jump roping in the 1970s and we behin to see competitions with complicated routeins. The teans were mostly girls, but some boys participated. Our earliest image comes from England in the late-19th century (figure 1). An English reader tells us about his observations beginning in the 1950s. "Playing Skipping rope games was an activity boys took part in in the 1950s. Weplayed a game called higher and higher. the game required you to jump over the rope at different heights. You were out of the game when a height was reached you could not jump over. Skipping ropes were also used for a game called ' Chariout Racing.' One boy would have the rope around his waist. The other boy would hold both ends. Then the charioteers would run forwards as fast as they could. It was great fun. We did not consider skipping as a useful skill. However all that changed when we saw a film at Saturday cinema about a boxer. He was seen doing a work out. This had us trying to skip. Some of the group managed it without trouble but others ended up in a trangle on the floor having tripped themselves up. The Rocky films got skipping popular with boys and in the 80s a keep fit programme encouraged the learning of skipping for both boys and girls. Now nobody seems to worry that girls and boys are skipping fanatics. The boys are just as skilful as the girls. Great fun is had skipping unless your the one entangled in the rope! It was not something you did in play other than higher and higher. Chariot racing could be done with a scarf or several tied together. Skipping was in PE lessons. It featured in sports day games too."

Games

There are many games that children cam play while jumping rope. At the turn of the century we note children singing jump rope rhymes while jumping at the same time. We note mostly girls particupating in Double-Dutch competitions.

Gender Conventions

We are not sure about the gender conventions. Jump rope in America was essentially a girl's activity in the 1940s, at least in America. A factor here is that boys were more involved with sports. We are not sure about earlier years.

Created: 2:16 AM 10/31/2009
Last updated: 9:49 PM 11/25/2019