[78-L] Race observations

[Tom]

The vast, overwhelming majority of African Americans of the Jolson and, previously, the Stephen Foster, era didn't go to minstrel shows or sing the Foster/Jolson kinds of songs. They sang spirituals and gospel music and, later on, jazz and blues.
 
That, by itself, ought to tell you a lot about the intent of the musical message being conveyed.
 
Yes, there were isolated examples of African Americans who performed in minstrel shows; however, most of them found the stereotypes of African Americans so degrading that they left. It's also certainly true that some people who performed in minstrel shows, like Jolson, were doing so as a means of hiding their Jewishness. Antisemitism was rampant in the U.S. at the time, as was anti-immigrant sentiment. (The U.S. passed major immigration reform measures in, if I remember correctly, 1924 specifically aimed at keeping eastern Europeans out of the country).
 
I ran across this statement by the NAACP about the Amos 'n Andy television program, which was written in 1951:
 
1. It tends to strengthen the conclusion among uniformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb and dishonest.

2. Every character in this one only show with an all negro cast is either a clown or a crook.

3. Negro Doctors are shown as quacks and thieves.

4. Negro lawyers are shown a slippery cowards, ignorant of their profession and without ethics.

5. Negro women are shown as cackling screaming shrews, in big-mouthed close-ups using street slang just short of vulgarity.
 
6. All Negroes are shown as dodging work of any kind.

7. Millions of white Americans see this Amos 'n' Andy picture and think the entire race is the same.

Notice any similarities to the artistic legacy of Al Jolson and Stephen Foster?


--- On Fri, 1/23/09, Chris Zwarg <doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de> wrote:

From: Chris Zwarg <doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Race observations
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 1:33 PM

>You guys are big fans of Al Jolson (and now, it seems, his source of
inspriation, if you want to call it that, Stephen Foster) who made a career of
sorts, by depicting African-Americans as wide-eyed, lustful, disorganized,
ignorant and inferior to whites. 

Please give examples, *especially of the last "quality"* - it's
easy to make a claim, but how about proof? Show don't tell, as people say!
If what you say is true, it shouldn't be too hard to type out and post some
lyrics, or put some MP3 excerpts somewhere. 

"Wide-eyed", "lustful", "disorganized", also
"lazy" and "cunning" - yes, agreed: In short, everything
"good people" would occasionally like to be but rarely dare to admit
it. My - of course totally subjective - ears hear a lot of escapism in these
songs, a (maybe unintentional and subconscious) longing to be able to take your
own life as easy as these "simple folks" and get away with it; no
hateful or degrading intention but rather a projection of unacknowledged desires
onto a group outside bourgeois society - very like the equally popular
"tramp/hobo", "gypsy", "soldier" and
"sailor" songs, usually depicting what was in reality a dreary life as
packed with rollicking fun. Dunno if any of the latter groups ever protested
against that kind of being portrayed in the way Afro-Americans apparently do
today.

What is obvious *musically* is that the composers of "coon songs" are
usually trying to imitate Afro-American musical styles - mainly spirituals and
ragtime - so these must have had *positive* connotations with their audience, if
only as "exotic" spices to liven up the usual diet of romantic ballads
and marching tunes. As the old saying goes "Imitation is the sincerest form
of flattery", and the flood of "faux Afro-American" blackface
entertainers to me looks very much like it filled a void in White popular
culture *caused* by the social unacceptability to enjoy the genuine article
rather than *causing* it. White Americans - as well as Europeans I might add -
discovered and enjoyed Afro-American rhythms and styles first in this
"sanitized" form of imitation (or if you prefer parody), and many
would agree that this paved the way for the interest in real Blues and Jazz
rather than obstructing it.

>And by the way, no one performs Stephen Foster or Al Jolson songs any more
and for good reason. 

Have you ever listened to Emma Calvé or Nellie Melba singing "Old folks
at home", Galli-Curci's "My old Kentucky home", John
McCormack's "Come where my love lies dreaming" or Jussi
Björling's "Jeanie with the light brown hair"? You need a perfect
vocal technique to do full justice to these songs, and if you have it,
they're perfect vehicles to show it off. OTOH, even "pedestrian"
routine singers usually make something beautiful of these eminently singable
melodies (try any example by people like Harry Macdonough, Will Oakland, or the
Hayden Quartet), and I'd guess one of the reasons are the sentimental lyrics
speaking right to their hearts. I would not willingly be without the recordings
I have listed as they are (to my ears) among the most beautiful vocal sounds
ever caught on record. "Banning" this kind of song denies today's
performers some wonderful opportunities to display their art, not easily
substituted from art song or operatic repertoire.

Chris Zwarg 

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