April 2011

“Dixie” and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic": Civil War song poems in the American repertoire

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During the Civil War, both north and south used the song-poem to advance a nostalgia for their regions in order to create a willingness to fight.  As evidenced by “Dixie” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” the true specificities and historical contexts rarely mattered, but instead interacted in a conversation with feelings about older tunes to advance new views on abolitionism. The poets or those who “claimed” these two song-poems created often false contexts for the song-poems in order to advance their causes.

Buy Aunt Jemima brand and let a mammy make you breakfast!

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In 1889, Chris Rutt, a newspaper man, along with his business partner Charles Underwood, was attempting to sell the new innovation of self-rising pancake flour. Rutt happened into a blackface minstrel house in St. Joseph, Missouri and saw Billy Kersand’s perform as “Aunt Jemima” in a bandanna and apron. The idea for his invention's mascot was born--she would be a mammy.

American suburbs are white, happy places

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            Suburbia in America is a relatively new invention. Before the 1920’s, most city dwellers lived within the city limits, most often in an apartment within their ethnic communities. The most affluent people, usually from well established immigrated families, lived in houses within the city. The newer immigrants lived in apartments near other members of their ethnicity in order to enjoy the benefits of ethnic grocers, ethnic charitable organizations, religious organizations, and the like.

Connecticut Answered the "Lexington Alarm"

"The shot heard 'round the world" spurred immediate local response.

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For American history buffs, living in New England is simply amazing.  While in a nearby town last week, I saw a plaque naming the first contributors to the American Revolution from the (later named) town of Meriden, CT. 

The "Lexington Alarm" was Massachusetts' call for aid from other colonies following the battles of Lexington & Concord, April 19, 1775.  This was the famous "shot heard 'round the world." 

The prior night had included Paul Revere's ride and two lanterns in the Old North Church.  When the alarm document reached Meriden, a group of men organized into a militia and headed to Boston to aid in the defense of the Patriots.  This was the case in dozens of towns and villages throughout CT.  These men eventually fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

 

Vaudeville and the Orpheum circuit

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          From the late 1800’s to the mid 1920’s, vaudeville and the Orpheum circuit were early examples of entertainment for all of America wherever they were—from Portland, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. Featuring all types of act from contortionists to musicians, celebrities to balancing acts, vaudeville was the best and worst of American theatrics and was a homogenizing force that brought upper and lower classes together like never before.