Dinah, Put Down Your Horn: Blackface Minstrel Songs Don’t Belong in Music Class
The removal of racist songs from school music programs is long overdue
Music teachers throughout the United States are quietly removing songs like “Oh! Susanna,” “Jimmy Crack Corn,” and “Camptown Races” from their lesson plans. Educators are realizing that these songs (and many others) have racist roots in the tradition of blackface minstrelsy — a tradition with a visual legacy that still haunts college campuses and the yearbook photos of politicians.
While the offensiveness of dressing in blackface is widely acknowledged, the ubiquity of blackface minstrel songs, by comparison, is relatively unknown. Blackface songs can be found throughout the American “folk” repertoire, in the fight songs of certain high schools and universities, and most disturbingly, in children’s music. Through decades of whitewashing in the 20th century, blackface minstrel songs were rebranded into the wholesome family favorites they are known as today, where they remain hidden in plain sight.
Blackface minstrel songs, the racist relic right under our noses, must be recognized for what they are and removed from children’s music programs if we want to move forward toward justice and equity as a society.
