{"id":1055,"date":"2015-04-13T21:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T02:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2015-04-13T21:01:32","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T02:01:32","slug":"zip-coon-dance-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/04\/13\/zip-coon-dance-tune\/","title":{"rendered":"Zip Coon…Dance Tune?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost all of us know the melody of \u201cTurkey in the Straw,\u201d whether singing it at summer camp when we were kids or singing along with The Wiggles before school. The song \u201cZip Coon\u201d is also based off of same melody and was most popular in the 1830\u2019s and 40\u2019s when it was sung in minstrel shows to depict the \u201ccoon\u201d stereotype. Despite its controversial racist lyrics, the melody is catchy and works well for dancing.<\/p>\n

When minstrelsy was becoming popular, so were the tunes that were being performed. What better way for people to enjoy these famous songs but to dance to them as well? One of the popular dance forms during the 1840\u2019s was the quadrille, which is related to square dancing today. It contained six parts and four couples would dance in a square formation. This composition features six popular tunes from minstrel shows, including \u201cZip Coon\u201d and \u201cJim Crow,\u201d and uses these tunes as the six parts of the quadrille. The cover features depictions of many famous minstrel show stereotypes.<\/p>\n

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By the 1920\u2019s, slavery was abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865 following the American Civil War. However, segregation remained strongly prevalent throughout the United States. The mindset of white supremacy among non-African American citizens pervaded even into their music. In this arrangement of \u201cTurkey in the Straw\u201d by Otto Bonnell and arranged by Calvin Groom, the cover of the sheet music features an African American man playing a banjo.<\/p>\n

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Or so it seems.<\/p>\n

Upon closer inspection, the depiction of the man is clearly referencing blackface. When compared with the cover of \u201cThe Crow Quadrilles,\u201d the large eyes and clown-like red lips are a means of hearkening back to the \u201cgood old days\u201d of minstrelsy. The man is also missing teeth and his hands have an animalistic quality to them, characterizing the African American as less than human.<\/p>\n

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The tune of \u201cTurkey in the Straw\u201d is set as an innocuous foxtrot in this arrangement with no racial implications. However, with the cover depicting African Americans in such a condescending fashion, it is clear the intent of the music is to invoke a feeling of nostalgia to a time when white men owned slaves. In that case, this piece is not any less offensive today than \u201cThe Crow Quadrilles.\u201d Instead of titling it \u201cTurkey in the Straw,\u201d it may have just as well been labeled as a foxtrot based on \u201cZip Coon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a>1. Ashley, Robert. “The Crow Quadrilles.” New York City, NY: C.T. Geslain, 1845.\u00a0http:\/\/digital.library.temple.edu\/cdm\/ref\/collection\/p15037coll1\/id\/6875.<\/p>\n

<\/a>2. Bonnell, Otto. “Turkey in the Straw.” Arr. by Calvin Grooms. New York City, NY: Leo Feist Inc., 1921.\u00a0http:\/\/digital.library.msstate.edu\/cdm\/ref\/collection\/SheetMusic\/id\/24823.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost all of us know the melody of \u201cTurkey in the Straw,\u201d whether singing it at summer camp when we were kids or singing along with The Wiggles before school. The song \u201cZip Coon\u201d is also based off of same … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":766,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[165,502,172,503,171,501,500],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-foxtrot","tag-jim-crow","tag-minstrelsy","tag-quadrille","tag-ragtime","tag-turkey-in-the-straw","tag-zip-coon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-h1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/766"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1087,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}