{"id":3111,"date":"2018-03-07T17:53:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T23:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2018-03-07T17:53:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T23:53:05","slug":"the-catchy-past-separating-the-song-from-the-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/03\/07\/the-catchy-past-separating-the-song-from-the-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The Catchy Past: Separating the Song from the History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Zip Coon.” In The American Mosaic: The African American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2018. Image. Accessed March 7, 2018. https:\/\/africanamerican2.abc-clio.com\/Search\/Display\/1612306.<\/p><\/div>\n

Most children grow up learning songs by Stephen Collins Foster, and the melodies are quite catchy. However, if one thinks of the background of such tunes, and how they are mostly minstrel songs, they can seem problematic. Minstrel shows incorporated blackface: when white people would use burnt cork to give themselves the appearance of an African American with exaggerated features.1<\/sup><\/a> While in this getup, they would portray racial stereotypes that are very offensive. This sheet music cover depicts one of the stock characters white men would portray in their minstrel performances.<\/span><\/p>\n

The songs of minstrel shows inspired Stephen Foster into writing more of these popular tunes.2<\/sup><\/a> He is famous for many memorable melodies, including \u201cOh, Susanna!\u201d and \u201cOld Folks at Home\u201d. These songs remained popular well passed the 1920s, and we all know them today. If one watches a scene from <\/span>Riding High <\/span><\/i>(Frank Capra, 1950), one can hear the legendary Bing Crosby singing one of Foster\u2019s hits, \u201cCamptown Races\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n