Assignment Part I: Assessing the Documents
Q1. According to W.E.B. Du Bois, the "gift" of Black music was that it exuded hope. Hope for what? Be specific. (See Primary Source #1)
Q2. What was the message conveyed about black men in the "coon song" folio covers of "The Bully Song" and "De Coon Dat Had De Razor?" (See PS #2)
Q3
a. According to Ida B. Wells, what was the main cause given for the lynching of African American men? Although she refutes the rationalization, she notes how contemporary descriptions of the African American presence were inflammatory. How so? (See PS #3a)
b. How do you think black men appeared in Rebecca Felton's imagination? Why? (See PS #3b)
Q4. What was the underlying message of the caricatures on the song folio cover of "All Coons Look Alike to Me?" Ernest Hogan, a black man, was the composer of the song. Why do you think African Americans were composing and performing "coon songs?" (See PS #4)
Q5. Do you see a relationship between songs like "Stay in Your Own Backyard" and the jane and jim crow laws that were passed at the same time? Explain. (see PS #5)
Assignment Part II: The Essay Question
Utilizing the primary source documents that you have examined, respond to the question below. The documentary Ethnic Notions also should inform your discussion. Adequate length will be determined by how satisfactorily each and all questions are answered.
Here is the question:
How did Professor Christian's "Notions of the Mind" work with the Thomas Theorem to affect the way that many if not most people who lived from the 1880s-1910s "saw" African Americans? Do you think their ideas about race could have been formed by minstrel images, particularly those of "coon songs?" What was the "coon caricature" that both Professor Pilgrim and Professor Bertrand described, and how might that have influenced the rise of jim and jane crow segregation? What type of stereotypes did this material emphasize? Did such "popular" stereotypes affect how people dealt with each other in reality? Could they have impacted someone like Rebecca Felton or the people that heard her speak? What did Du Boisimply about those people who consumed "coon songs?" Finally, do you think that such songs, song lyrics, and song sheet covers could have contributed to the downward spiral of race relations during this period, or did the emergence of this material simply represent a coincidence? Explain.