Hi, Azizi. I think that you missed my comment on "Walk, Jawbone," when I said that I "am sure that the idea came from slave dances and instruments."
I agree with Lighter that proof is hard to get. This is why research such as that done by Dena Epstein, in her "Sinful Tunes and Spirituals, Black Folk Music to the Civil War," is important. A comment here, a comment there, in old books, journals and manuscripts, may be put together to provide a picture, albeit sketchy, of the conditions in the period 1780-1840. Black and minstrel music became two sides of a coin.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, especially New Orleans, dances by the slaves on Sunday (for many allowed as a day of recreation) were observed by writers, and were an attraction for white sightseers in "Congo Square" and elsewhere. In 1823, one writer observed the "great Congo dance" where "hundreds of Negroes, male and female, follow the king...." Regarding tThe dancing and revelry in "Place Congo," one writer stated "Every stranger should visit Congo Square... once at least, and my word for it, no one will ever regret or forget it." I am sure minstrel troupes visiting the region knew these performances. The same was true for what had been French territories in the Caribbean, (quotes from Dena J. Epstein) and elsewhere.

Another song with minstrel versions:
House slaves often entertained their masters and guests. One Savannah resident had an African-born slave they called 'Mom Jinny.' He wrote that she had many stories and songs about animals. She sang (ca. 1835) a song that either was borrowed by minstrels or that she had heard from them (which? this is the question):

Dare's a ting dey call him de 'gator.'
He lib on de lan' as well as de water.
He go chingering, chingering, chingering,
Charigo, chingering, chingering, chaw.

Dere's a little ting dey call 'im de chigger,
He lib on de lan' and he bites po' nigger.
He go chingering, chingering, chingering,
Charigo, chingering, chingering, chaw.

Quoted in Dena Epstein, from C. S. H. Hardee, "Reminiscences of Charles Seton Henry Hardee," Georgia Historical Quarterly 12 (1928).
(I well remember chiggers from army training and southern pastures)

Charleston and Savannah were other areas where the 'folk pot' boiled. Both cities had, for a period, black slave owners as well as white. Slaves were often hired out for all kinds of jobs. Information is scattered, but I am sure information on music and entertainment there remains to be found and collated.