Political Correctness.. a dilema

[thereallyniceman]

I have been editing more banjo scores for the MUSIC LIBRARY and many have titles with the "N" word and Coon, Darkie etc etc.

My dilemma is, do we post these scores as original or, do as seems to be the way nowadays,  change them to make them "more palatable"?

My opinion is that they were written at a time when they must have been deemed widely acceptable and we are re-writing history by sanitising them.

What to me seems to be the greatest contradiction is that nowadays we are expected to deny racism from the past by altering what happened, the reason being that we do not want it to happen again,  whereas anyone attempting to deny the holocaust is vilified, for the very same reason.

Perhaps I am a naive but it seems a bit of a paradox to me.

How would members prefer that "dubiously" titles scores are dealt with?

[Joel Hooks]

I have a take on this (really? Joel has an opinion on something?).

If the subject in question is an historical document, it should be unaltered.  Published as is.  Obscene to modern sensibilities intact.  We should also not apologize for something that we did not do.  Presenting facts is not being racist.

It is what it is.

If the performance is intended to be a history lesson, as in "living history," it should not be "cleaned up" or apologized for.  People that would be viewing for that lesson should be smart enough to understand it... we all get it, people in the "olden times" were nothing but big nasty racists filled with hate.

It certainly was financially successful, that form of mockery at that time, and very popular as we all know...

That said, if one just likes (or loves) the music but does not like the title-- change it.  Don't like the words, change them to ones that you do.

If it is just music and not a history lesson, it can be altered to suit the times.  Nothing wrong with that.

Even Frank Converse changed with the times, and wrote about it saying that the "old style" minstrel show would not go over then (1901?).  It was a suit and tie for Frank in his own skin color in the 1880s.  20 years earlier it was tub banjos and cork.

The music published before 1923 is in the public domain and we own it.  The public owns it, and can do whatever the heck it wants with it.

To conclude, if one is playing the piece in a modern setting and would not be rewriting or misrepresenting history the change it.

New and edited editions, change the title or lyrics.

Copy of the original document-- don't.

History lesson-- don't.

Apologize for something a previous generation did-- don't.

[Hal Allert]

So does Echoes of the Snowball Club.

Trapdoor2 said:

As vile as some are, they are a window into our past. Keep 'em as is. Put a 'disclaimer' on the lead page.

When I'm playing or discussing these tunes (or this period of banjodom) in front of an audience, I usually spout a few sentences about tune titles and cover art, etc. Greg Adams has a whole soliloquy on the subject for his "Minstrel Era" presentations.

Some of the tune titles have hidden idiomatic meanings. "Sunflower Dance" is one of them.

[Hal Allert]

I would leave the titles original. You didn't give it that title and you aren't contributing to racism by posting it. You aren't going to convert a person into a skinhead or racist by showing this piece of old music.

[thereallyniceman]

Thanks Hal. I decided that was the best approach too, but have added a disclaimer to the MUSIC LIBRARY based on the US Library of Congress's text.

Thus:

These musical scores are presented as part of an historical record of the past.

Some score titles may reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times.

Classic Banjo Ning does not endorse views expressed in these scores, some of which may contain content offensive to users.