Posted on Sep 6, 2020
My Old Kentucky Home: A Song with a Checkered Past | Studio 360 | WNYC
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On Kentucky Derby day — May 3 this year — more than one hundred thousand spectators will rise from their seats at Churchill Downs to sing "My Old Kentucky Home," the state song. "I find it very ironic that all these men and women in their lovely hats and fancy gowns are singing a song with adulterated lyrics,” says Ken Emerson, the biographer of songwriter Stephen Foster. “They think they are singing a song that is a celebration of the Antebellum South, with ladies in crinoline and dashing cavaliers, when really it is an anti-slavery song, inspired by an abolitionist novel.”
My Old Kentucky Home: A Song with a Checkered Past | Studio 360 | WNYC
Posted from wnyc.org
Racism
Slavery
American History
Music
Immigration
Posted >1 y ago
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A maybe interesting story. I had a client that was doing a lot of historical restorations, a lot of them for the State of Kentucky. One of the projects was My Old Kentucky Home in Bardstown, Ky. I went down to give the State and my client an opinion on how to approach a number of structural problems in the building. The project manager, Park super, and I made an extensive survey of the building, I was frankly shocked on how shoddy the structural carpentry was in the building. I had done a number of Historical renovations of the Ohio side of Cincinnati, where the old German and Greek carpenters,
masons and stone masons of the same periods were real artists, so that's what I had expected. I make that statement to the Park Superintendent, he just said Slave Built. He went on to explain that the quality was just good enough not to get beat with a whip. I started to notice the other historical projects that were associated with slave plantations, and they all followed that general pattern. The farm labor was just good enough to get by, the hired labor was good to excellent. But if someone was whipping me, squeaky floors and a protruding nail head would be subtle payback.
masons and stone masons of the same periods were real artists, so that's what I had expected. I make that statement to the Park Superintendent, he just said Slave Built. He went on to explain that the quality was just good enough not to get beat with a whip. I started to notice the other historical projects that were associated with slave plantations, and they all followed that general pattern. The farm labor was just good enough to get by, the hired labor was good to excellent. But if someone was whipping me, squeaky floors and a protruding nail head would be subtle payback.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
CPT Lawrence Cable Cincinnati Germans (Krauts, Huns) Like Yours Truly Wilhelm Wesling Nagel? Ever Work in College Hill Where I Grew Up?
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CPT Lawrence Cable
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel - I have worked over most of Cincinnati on both sides of the River. My uncle Don Schuele is one of the second generation Germans that populate a lot of Cincinnati. My side of the Family are all Appalachian Out Migrants. As they say, a lot Buckeyes are just Hillbillies that ran out of money on the way to Michigan. At one time or another, I worked for companies in Camp Washington, Oakley, Evendale, Milford, Beechmont, and Burlington (on the Kentucky side).
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
CPT Lawrence Cable - Clifton Refugees from Coal Country. I Recognize the Schuele Name. I'm Bloody Amazed that You can say Complete Sentences without saying "You Know" Always a Dead Giveaway of Our Roots. LOL!
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