"The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home." So begins an American standard, first published as a minstrel song, that became dear to the hearts of millions and ultimately was enshrined as the Kentucky Derby's sonic centerpiece—a popular selling point for Kentucky tourism. Emily Bingham's masterful decoding of Stephen Foster's 1853 ballad reveals that the song was always about slavery and how white Americans wanted to remember it. Acknowledging her own entanglement in this legacy, Bingham takes readers on the journey of a melody, from its inception by a white northerner, to its enormous success on the blackface circuit, in recordings by Al Jolson and Bing Crosby, and on the pages of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, to its countless screen appearances, including Shirley Temple movies, The Simpsons, and Mad Men.
For almost two centuries, "My Old Kentucky Home" has never been just a song—it continues to be a resonant, changing emblem of America's original sin, whose blood-drenched shadow haunts us still. My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song investigates the tune's hidden history, lodged in the nation's cultural DNA, and ends with a startling solution for what to do with this artifact of race and slavery.
eBook - ePub
My Old Kentucky Home
The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song
- 352 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Praise for My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song
- Also by Emily Bingham
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night!
- Preface: The Forgetting
- 1. ’tis Summer, The Darkies Are Gay: Stephen Foster, Ethiopian Songwriter
- 2. The Corn Top’s Ripe: White Men’s Music
- 3. The Little Cabin Floor: “Negro” Minstrelsy
- 4. The Sun Shines Bright: White Reunification
- 5. To Tote The Weary Load: The Burden of Black Uplift
- 6. Where All Was Delight: Creating the Old Kentucky Home
- 7. We Will Sing One Song: Fostering an American Consensus
- 8. Wherever The Darky May Go: The D-Word as Destiny
- 9. They Sing No More: Black Power and Back to Bardstown
- 10. Weep No More: A Sonic Monument
- Coda: My Old Kentucky Home
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Illustration Credits
Trusted by 375,005 students
Access to over 1.5 million titles for a fair monthly price.
Study more efficiently using our study tools.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn how to download books offline
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1.5 million books across 990+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn about our mission
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more about Read Aloud
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS and Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Yes, you can access My Old Kentucky Home by Emily Bingham in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & North American History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.