Hi David:
This is the politically "correct" thought police at work. It's a cancer on American society, created
and nurtured in academia. It's disgusting to me, because it's dishonest and anti-truth. It's
straight out of George Orwell, as are most far-left academic notions. Totally agree about Stephen
Foster. He was a major part of American musical and cultural history, whether his lyrics "offend"
people whose default stance is moral "outrage" or not.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "DAVID BURNHAM" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2015 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial Museum
>I think one of the sadest developments in American musical history is the ostracizing of Stephen
>Foster's music because he is described as being "racist". Stephen Foster wrote prolifically about a
>period in history which was cruel to African Americans, (although, of course, he never used that
>expression), but he always described them as honest, God fearing, family oriented, loving people.
>Sure, some of his songs containg the "N" word, but he lived in a time when that word wasn't used as
>offensively as it is today.
> Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan was a very morally upright person who would not knowingly offend
> anyone, but he used the "N" word twice in "Mikado", (which is occasionally described as offensive
> to the Japanese).
> "Showboat" is often described as racist. When it was to be shown in Toronto to open a new concert
> venue over 20 years ago, there were huge outcries from protesters who obviously didn't understand
> the work at all. "Showboat" was a curageous statement AGAINST racism at a time when racist
> sentiments were quite acceptable, (late '20s). The very first word in "Showboat" is the "N" word,
> (I'm not spelling it out because I don't want to offend anybody and if there is automatic
> monitoring of ARSC posts, the presence of the word would cause the post to be rejected), and that
> word is used throughout "Showboat", but anyone who knows "Showboat" knows it's anything but
> racist. Paul Robeson was a very outspoken critic of anything racist and would not participate in
> anything which was offensive to anyone, yet he was proud to appear in "Showboat" and "Old Man
> River" almost became his theme song.
> db
>
>
> On Monday, April 27, 2015 10:56 AM, "Williams, Tim" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> Though not as big or eccentric as the Bayernhof Museum, Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial
> Museum is much more accessible and quick to tour:
>
>
> http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/Museum.htm
>
>
> It's on Forbes Avenue (lots of buses go from Downtown up Forbes) in Oakland, at the foot of the
> University of Pittburgh's gigantic Cathedral of Learning and across the street from the Carnegie
> Museums and Library and the Dippy the Dinosaur statue.
>
>
>
> See lots of you folks a month from now!
>
> Tim
>
>
> Timothy R. Williams
>
> Librarian
>
> Music, Film & Audio Department
>
> Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
>
>
>
> Check out this list of Pittsburgh jazz musicians:
>
> http://carnegielibrary.org/research/music/pittsburgh/pittsburghjazzmusicians.html
>
>
>
>
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