#ResistanceRoots #Voices4Victory #BlackHistoryMonth Today in history, 1997: The Virginia House of Delegates votes unanimously to retire the state song, “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,” which glorifies slavery. It is written from the perspective of an enslaved person who venerates his owners. /1 - ThreadSky

bambooshooti.bsky.social • 5 days ago

#ResistanceRoots
#Voices4Victory
#BlackHistoryMonth

Today in history, 1997: The Virginia House of Delegates votes unanimously to retire the state song, “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,” which glorifies slavery. It is written from the perspective of an enslaved person who venerates his owners. /1

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bambooshooti.bsky.social•5 days ago

The song was written in 1878 by James Bland, an African American composer, banjo player and minstrel show performer. Born in Flushing, N.Y., Bland was the son of one of the first African Americans to graduate college. His father bought him a $8 banjo, and he soon began performing professionally. /2

bambooshooti.bsky.social•5 days ago

Bland wrote more than 700 songs, of which “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” is the best known. He is known for breaking down the color barrier to get his music published. He also toured the U.S. and Europe performing in minstrel shows and became known as “The World’s Greatest Minstrel Man. /3

bambooshooti.bsky.social•5 days ago

Minstrel shows were a uniquely American form of theater, typically with white actors in blackface makeup but sometimes with African American performers. They were variety shows with music, dancing and comedy skits, all of which stereotyped Blacks as dimwitted, lazy and buffoonish. /4

bambooshooti.bsky.social•5 days ago

The shows were extremely popular in the mid-19th century but were replaced by Vaudeville by the turn of the 20th century. Bland died in obscurity in 1911 and was buried in an unmarked grave. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Published helped erect a monument in 1939. /end

johngove.bsky.social•5 days ago

Great thread! Stephen Foster was also a prominent Minstrel composer. His and Bland’s history is complicated. As you’ve said, they wrote songs for minstrel shows that reinforced ugly racial stereotypes – Jim Crow was in fact a common minstrel character.

johngove.bsky.social•5 days ago

And so they deserve condemnation for contributing to the normalization of slavery and to the idea that black people, absurdly, LIKED being slaves.

At the same time, they are among the first generation of composers that established the American song form – the way that American songs are organized.

culturedropout.bsky.social•5 days ago

Shhhh! 🤫

jojobluehoosier.bsky.social•5 days ago

Aren’t you afraid the gop will bring it back?

bambooshooti.bsky.social•5 days ago

Right now, Democrats have a slim majority in the Virginia General Assembly, but who knows what might happen in the future.

jojobluehoosier.bsky.social•5 days ago

Let’s not give them any ideas

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