As much as I’m for properly assigning credit to the South that it’s managed to outright shirk in the last half century, minstrelsy’s impact and the degree to which it was popular culture (and continued to influence popular culture well after) cannot be understated.
The original lyrics were written in a “negro dialect” and it’s an example on a “plantation song”, songs which were sung by someone portraying a slave missing both the south and the plantation where they were enslaved. These songs helped bolster the narrative that slavery was a positive for the enslaved, providing a sort of parental guidance that the eternally child-like (in intelligence) slave supposedly desperately needed.
I remember being so disappointed when I found out the original lyrics and context of Oh Susanna!
It’s such an iconic piece of Americana, and I don’t believe I ever heard or saw the original lyrics even growing up in a border state. I love the song, and my New York-born grandmother used to sing it to me.
But fuck, what a horrific origin for a song with such a great emotional range in tune and chorus.
*minstrel tune
As much as I’m for properly assigning credit to the South that it’s managed to outright shirk in the last half century, minstrelsy’s impact and the degree to which it was popular culture (and continued to influence popular culture well after) cannot be understated.
The original lyrics were written in a “negro dialect” and it’s an example on a “plantation song”, songs which were sung by someone portraying a slave missing both the south and the plantation where they were enslaved. These songs helped bolster the narrative that slavery was a positive for the enslaved, providing a sort of parental guidance that the eternally child-like (in intelligence) slave supposedly desperately needed.
I remember being so disappointed when I found out the original lyrics and context of Oh Susanna!
It’s such an iconic piece of Americana, and I don’t believe I ever heard or saw the original lyrics even growing up in a border state. I love the song, and my New York-born grandmother used to sing it to me.
But fuck, what a horrific origin for a song with such a great emotional range in tune and chorus.