The ring game use could be 20th century. Some have noted minstrel lines in some verses; they could be floaters.
One version of "Shortnin' Bread" (in White, from Ms of W. T. Huckabee, 1919, Negro workers in eastern NC):

Two little niggers black as tar,
Tryin' to get to heaven on a 'lectric car.
De street car broke, down dey fell,
'Stead a goin' to heaven they went to hell.

Compare this with another white song (Ms of H. Carder, 1915-1916, again noted in White)
I come to a ribber, an' couldn't get across
So I gib half a dolla for an old blind horse, ---etc.
From the "Original Jim Crow" sung by Tom Rice, "Negro Singers' Own Book, 1846(?).
Just speculation, but when sung to the same rhythm, and cadence, I think I can see how floaters came in from other songs.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have transcripts of these manuscripts? Must be a lot of material buried in them. Might answer some of these questions, or at least provide more fuel for speculation.