<P> There have been occasional speculations to the effect that the custom may have origins in West Africa, but there is no direct evidence for this, although Dundes points to a custom of Ghana where brooms were waved above the heads of newlyweds and their parents . Among southern Africans, who were largely not a part of the Atlantic slave trade, it represented the wife's commitment or willingness to clean the courtyard of the new home she had joined . </P> <P> Slave - owners were faced with a dilemma regarding committed relationships between slaves . While some family stability might be desirable as helping to keep slaves tractable and pacified, anything approaching a legal marriage was not . Marriage gave a couple rights over each other which conflicted with the slave - owners' claims . Most marriages between enslaved blacks were not legally recognized during American slavery, as in law marriage was held to be a civil contract, and civil contracts required the consent of free persons . In the absence of any legal recognition, the slave community developed its own methods of distinguishing between committed and casual unions . The ceremonial jumping of the broom served as an open declaration of settling down in a marriage relationship . Jumping the broom was always done before witnesses as a public ceremonial announcement that a couple chose to become as close to married as was then allowed . </P> <P> Jumping the broom fell out of practice when blacks were free to marry legally . The practice did survive in some communities, however, and made a resurgence after the publication of Alex Haley's Roots Danita Rountree Green describes the African American custom as it stood in the early 1990s in her book Broom Jumping: A Celebration of Love (1992). </P> <P> American singer - songwriter Brenda Lee released the rockabilly song "Let's Jump the Broomstick" on Decca Records in 1959 . Via its association with Wales and the popular association of the broom with witches, the custom has also been adopted by some Wiccans . </P>

Where did the tradition of jumping the broom come from