It was sung in the 1931 movie Safe in Hell by Nina Mae McKinney, and became the signature song of Louis Armstrong, who recorded it almost a hundred times during his career.
[2] A popular recording in 1931 was by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra (vocal by Mildred Bailey).
The lyrics concern the Great Migration in the United States, the movement of African Americans from the South to cities in the North, with the singer talking about the "dear old Southland... where I belong",[1] and contain many racial stereotypes.
[5] Armstrong's popularity among African-American audiences dropped because of the song, but at the same time it helped the trumpeter to make his fan base broader.
[7] There is a 1942 film short of the song where Armstrong and others played slaves and farm workers.