Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Coon Songs











Coon Songs
 


This is why learning about true African American history is so important, so we will rise above the demoralization, mental neutralization and lies that were indoctrinated in us through public education and slavery. The false narratives about our history and deprogramming us of our culture is what keeps us in denial, subjugation and asleep. 
 
As slavery ended and Jim Crow swept across the nation, another form of ridicule becomes popular to further dehumanize African Americans. It was perpetuated in minstrel and song; it was a genre of music that came into popularity in the United States as well as around the world from 1880 to 1920, although the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848. Coon songs were performed by white musical entertainers or groups that dressed up in blackened faces and from their distorted stereotypical viewpoint they jokingly portrayed African Americans as buffoons.

From Wikipedia:
By the mid-1880s, coon songs were a national craze; over 600 such songs were published in the 1890s. The most successful songs sold millions of copies. To take advantage of the fad, composers "add words typical of coon songs to previously published songs and rags" At the height of their popularity, "just about every songwriter in the country" was writing coon songs "to fill the seemingly insatiable demand. "Writers of coon songs included some of the most important Tin Pan Alley composers, including Gus Edwards, Fred Fisher (who wrote the 1905 "If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon", which sold three million copies), and Irving Berlin.
Even one of John Philip Sousa's assistants, Arthur Pryor, composed coon songs. (This was meant to ensure a steady supply to Sousa's band, which performed the songs and popularized several coon song melodies. The songs showed the social threats that whites believed were posed by blacks. Passing was a common theme, and blacks were portrayed as seeking the status of whites, through education and money.  However, blacks rarely, except during dream sequences, actually succeeded at appearing white; they only aspired to do so.

The purpose of these songs and the performance were to demoralize and diminish the intellect and character of African Americans. From the standpoint of the performers it was meant to be funny by using caricature images of African Americans eating watermelon and chicken, as babbling idiots, dishonest, hustlers, drunkards and gamblers without ambition and much, much worst. 



 

However, the minstrel genre also included a few blacks who decided to join the minstrel circuit; they put on a "blackface" as well to perform. 

Billy Kersands (1842-1915), James A. Bland (1854-1911), Master Juba (1825-1852), Sam Lucas (1850-1916), Thomas Dilworth (1840-1902).

One of the performers commented about why they do it:

"If they wanted to be popular, they had no choice but to imitate the white minstrels' imitation of blacks."

*From wikipedia:
After the turn of the century, coon songs began to receive criticism for their racist content. In 1905, Bob Cole, an African-American composer who had gained fame largely by writing coon songs, made somewhat unprecedented remarks about the genre. When asked in an interview about the name of his earlier comedy A Trip to Coontown, he replied, "That day has passed with the softly flowing tide of revelations." Cole's comments may have been influential, and (following further criticism) the use of "coon" in song titles greatly decreased after 1910.

The popular opinion of some people and other information sources is to believe the “coon song” circuit decreased in 1910.  Minstrel shows are still being performed by African Americans on TV, as comedians and in most popular rap music without the blackened face. Racist white people are choosing to inflict this distorted stereotype of their ancestors and they believe it is still humorous to demoralize African Americans in this manner. The attitudes, practices and mindset are still very much alive today across the United States and the world.





Robert Allen “Bob” Cole, (on the left, who is sitting) with his partner, J. Rosamond Johnson in the picture of black minstrels) was a composer, actor, playwright, stage producer and director. Cole and Johnson featured classical piano and refined musicals which did not have the usual stereotypes like hot-mamas or watermelon when he first became successful. In time, their success allowed them to tour in America and Europe. In 1896, Cole joined Black Patti’s Troubadours, an American vaudeville group that performed blackface minstrel songs and coon songs. It also featured acrobats and comedians.
The talented team of Bob Cole and Rosamond Johnsons’ success came from Johnson’s training in music and his creative ability on the keyboard and Cole’s lyrical talent in composing original pieces. Eventually, together the men were instrumental in altering the perception and interest in African America music. Through their collaborative efforts they sought to educate the public through their music and sway the concept of “coon songs” as a degrading and contemptible genre. 

From wikipedia:
By 1902, Cole gained ultimate success, financially, and wrote the article “The Negro and the Stage” for the Colored American Magazine. In it, he reveals his concerns toward the crippling imaged placed on African-American performers; for instance, he is disgruntled by the use of the African-American villains in black entertainment, for it demeaned African Americans and fueled the racial stereotypes of the typical violent black man. He denounces the adaptations of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that used African-American stereotypes. Although, in the article, he criticizes the conventional use of the aggressive black man (which in turn enforced a disreputable image on the black actors themselves) incorporated in most black entertainment of the day, he ends the article with a positive note of a bright future for black performers, where stereotyping and racism would be nullified and African Americans would eventually revolutionize the entertainment world. Cole was a revolutionary figure who contributed to the movement in eliminating the degrading, social characterizations of the black performer, thus, forcing the path of black entertainment towards a more respectable and dignified future.

Tragically, Cole committed suicide by drowning himself in a creek in the Catskills in 1911 after a nervous breakdown and period of clinical depression that worsened in 1910.

After fighting to eliminate the psychological effects of the minstrel shows on African Americans, Bob Cole was asked about his performance from an earlier time in his career when he participated in the minstrel and coon song circuits,...he replied...

"That day has passed with the softly flowing tide of revelations."

Definition of revelation: 

something revealed or disclosed, especially a striking disclosure, as of something not before realized

When you know better, you do better....

#EachoneTeachone



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