Articles

Dinah, Put Down Your Horn: Blackface Minstrel Songs Don’t Belong in Music Class, Medium

'The removal of racist songs from school music programs is long overdue."

How to Handle the Hate in America’s Musical Heritage, The New York Times

"A companion to the “Anthology of American Folk Music” had already been pressed when Lance and April Ledbetter realized they couldn’t live with releasing racist songs."

Five Black Musicians on a Reckoning with Racism, and What Comes Next, Boston Globe

"I’ve always been aware of my skin color in the folk community, and the ignorance that a lot of consumers of folk and bluegrass and Americana have. They’re not aware that the instruments and the music that they’re playing originated from Black stories." -Grace Givertez

Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You, NPR/Code Switch

"I wondered how such a prejudiced song could have become the anthem of ice cream and childhood summers. I learned that though Browne was fairly creative in his lyrics, the song's premise and its melody are nearly as old as America itself. As often happens with matters of race, something that is rather vanilla in origin is co-opted and sprinkled with malice along the way."