[78-L] Stephen Foster

[fnarf at comcast.net]

Of course there were other ethnic stereotypes. But Germans and Scotsmen were never enslaved, were they?

--
Steve.

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Bud Black" <banjobud at cfl.rr.com>
> And all Scotsmen are cheapskates.  And all Irishmen are drunks.  And all
> Germans are war-like. 
>  
> -------Original Message-------
>  
> From: fnarf at comcast.net
> Date: 1/23/2009 5:38:44 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Stephen Foster
>  
> "Gwine" instantly identifies the speaker as African-American. As for
> demeaning, the song clearly portrays blacks as childlike, fun-loving but
> unsophisticated, and so on. This is clearly demeaning, and plays into common
> perceptions of black intellect. Darkies love to bet on horses all day, isn't
> that cute?
>  
> --
> Steve.
>  
>   -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: lizmcl at midcoast.com
> > > Chris Zwarg:
> > >
> > >> First of all, there is NOT ONE WORD in the whole lyrics that says
> > >> anything about
> > >> the ethnicity of either the singer nor the ladies, nor about the moral
> > >> or mental
> > >> qualities of either
> > >
> > > You know, you completely blow your credibility when you suggest that
> these
> > > lyrics are not specifically black, and specifically demeaning. They are.
> > > No one who heard them then was in any doubt. "Gwine" is all you need to
> > > see.
> > >
> > While "gwine" is certainly a specifically-black reference, whether it was
> > intended or understood as demeaning is quite another matter -- it was, in
> > fact, a part of the actual dialect spoken by many African-Americans of the
> > time, and in fact, it survives today in the speech of the Gullah speakers
> > of the Sea Islands off South Carolina and northern Georgia. Note the
> > examples in the American Bible Society's Gullah translation:
> > http://juniperwebsolutions.com/gullah/bible.html
> >
> > There's a common perception today that much of minstrel-era dialect was
> > simply made up by comedians and songwriters, but the more research that's
> > done by sociolinguists the less likely this seems. The works of J. L.
> > Dillard, William Labov, and Walter Brasch contain much worth reading on
> > this point.
> >
> > Elizabeth
> >
> >
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