Looks like we haven't documents an early source for this song. It's included on a CD titled Harrod's Jubilee Singers 1922 & Utica Institute Jubilee Singers 1927 - 1929A. So....that dates the song as 1929 or earlier, and the copyright cutoff date is 1923. I'm guessing the song is much older, but it bothers me that we haven't found an earlier instance.

By the way, click here for a history of the Utica Campus of Hinds Community College, home of the Utica Institute Jubilee Singers.

-Joe-