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happy back-to-school
inspired by mad men…sort of
I’ve actually been planning to blog this for a while, but I got lazy and tucked it into a folder on my computer. Last week’s episode of Mad Men has inspired me to get it together though. If you saw the episode, you probably know what this is all about. The blackface. The throwback to the “good old days” when it was just hilarious (and not at all inappropriate) to mock the darkies. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the scene from the show. It was kind of long and awkward, but perhaps that was the point. Anyway, it’s not like the writers of the show just pulled that out of thin air. I bet they didn’t have the song written for the show. As with racist advertising (and as malevolent as), there is a plethora of good ole “racist” music out there. Wanna see some?
Ernest Hogan was a black man. Here are his lyrics:
“All coons look alike to me, I’ve got another beau you see, and he’s just as good to me as you, nig!”
Here’s some back story on Hogan and the song from Wikipedia:
In 1895, black entertainer Ernest Hogan published two of the earliest sheet music rags, one of which (“All Coons Look Alike to Me”) eventually sold a million copies. As fellow Black musician Tom Fletcher said, Hogan was the “first to put on paper the kind of rhythm that was being played by non-reading musicians.” While the song’s success helped introduce the country to ragtime rhythms, its use of racial slurs created a number of derogatory imitation tunes, known as “coon songs” because of their use of extremely racist and stereotypical images of blacks. In Hogan’s later years he admitted shame and a sense of “race betrayal” for the song while also expressing pride in helping bring ragtime to a larger audience.
“Coon! Coon! Coon! I wish my color would fade. Coon! Coon! Coon! I’d like a different shade. Coon! Coon! Coon! Morning, night, and noon, I wish I was a white man ‘stead of a Coon! Coon! Coon!”
No lyrics for these two, I believe:
Here’s one that I thought was kind of sweet, yet sad:
“Mama, are there any angels black like me? I’ve been as good as any little girl could be. If I hide my face do you think they would see? I wonder if they’ll find a place for Little black me.”
willing to accept
This isn’t the first I’ve heard of biracial children falling under the umbrella of “hard to place” in the adoption world, but this little article still made me sad. As if it would be a great sacrifice, or a kind of acquiescence, perhaps an inconvenience to bring one of “those” children into your family. But hey, they’ll pay you to take one…
Adoption Resourcess, under the umbrella of Jewish Family and Childrens’ Services, is a licensed, nonprofit adoption agency in Massachusetts. They have been in business for 140 years…
“The agency is a conduit for contact”, states the director. They provide counseling, support and education to birthparents before and after the birth. These services are also provided to the adoptive parents, and to adoptees seeking information on their heritage.
For a flat fee, the prospective parent(s) can adopt a healthy, Caucasian infant within one to two years. For those willing to accept biracial or at risk children that wait time can be as little as one year. Betsy notes that the agency is particularly proud of its Lindelli Fund, which provides subsidies to any parent wishing to adopt hard-to-place children.- via
These children are not up for adoption. They’re just cute and biracial.
speaking of amazing creatures
for the cat people
I always feel like I’ve slighted the cat lovers when I do dog posts, so…
mulatto diaries 