[78-L] Stephen Foster

[Bud Black]

No, but the Jews certainly were.  So let's ban all references to, "My
Yiddisha Mama," "When Yiddle Plays His Fiddle," "Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven
Dollars," and all the recordings of Myron Cohen.

C'mon, let's get real!  Why can't we enjoy the music and humor of the past
without necessarily condoning it's shortcomings by today's standards?  Just
because I enjoy the singing and infectious laughter of Arthur Collins doesn
t make me a charter member of the KKK.  And if somebody has a problem with
what I enjoy, I don't particularly give a tinker's damn.

Bud   
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: fnarf at comcast.net
Date: 1/23/2009 7:12:12 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Stephen Foster
 
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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