I have been struggling with my United States History class and it was beginning to look like I might not make it through with a passing grade. After another sad grade I called my dad and asked him if he could help me come up with something. This is the paper we wrote. It isn't great, but at least I made an 85.
STEPHEN
COLLINS FOSTER: America’s
First Composer
The
Instructions for the Unit VII essay were to write on one character from the
lecture. In the lecture minstrel performance is mentioned in passing. I believe
its importance should not be overlooked. I would like to do my paper on a
famous (and genius) minstrel writer named Stephen Collins Foster and explain
his importance. To reject minstrel performance in the early 1800’s is like
rejecting Will Rogers and Woody Guthrie during the Great Depression or Jimi
Hendrix and Joan Baez during the Vietnam Era.
We all tire of long
speeches but songs stay in our heads. Stephen Collins Foster gave feelings to
the situation. His songs gave humanity to the enslaved Negro. In his day all
voters were white but one might go the polls with remembrance of a “ditty”
fresh on his mind.
During the 1840s Parlor
Music was music performed by women in their homes, Minstrel Music was the
opposite of that. Minstrel music was for men, it covered popular events and
used slang and bad language. Minstrel music was made popular by Thomas “Daddy”
Rice when he blackened his face and began performing “Jumped Jim Crow” in New
York in 1828. This would lead the way for Stephen Collins Foster, who became an
inspiration for future American Songwriters.
Black faced minstrels
also helped to feed the stereotype of the Negro being a dumb less than human
persona. It fed the fears of the Negro being freed. This was a bawdy comedy
that was performed at the expense of the Negro.
When Stephen Collins
Foster left Pittsburg to work as a bookkeeper in Cincinnati he had already had
success with a parlor song called “Open Thy Lattice Love” But he was attracted
to the energy of the minstrel music and shows. Once settled in, he wrote his
first Blackface Minstrel songs. They
were performed by the Christy Minstrels and other groups and became quite
popular. His first successful songs were “Oh Susanna”, “Lou’siana Bell”, and
“Uncle Ned.
These songs and many
others spread quickly across the country.
“Oh Susanna “Became popular during the Gold Rush. “Uncle Ned “could be
heard in concert halls in England.
I am Stephen Collins
Foster. I was born in Lawrenceville Pennsylvania, which is now part of
Pittsburg. My parents are William and Elizabeth Foster. My father helped found
Lawrenceville Pennsylvania. He also dedicated land for the burial of soldiers
from the War of 1812, and helped equip Colonel Andrew Jackson’s men for the
Battle of New Orleans in 1814. He did lose a lot of his wealth, but was till
appointed to public office. My father also served under James Buchanan in the
House of Representatives and went on to be the Mayor of Allegheny City, which
is now Pittsburg’s North Side.
My family was not
necessarily musically inclined, but my older sister Charlotte would sing and
play parlor music on the piano. She died when I was three years old. I count
her as one of my inspirations to become a song writer.
I did receive a good
education, though I didn’t always agree with the direction my father was
pushing me toward. I wanted to work with music, but during this time, it wasn’t
a job fitting for a middle class man. My parent’s failed to recognize my talent
and even I in later years did not realize my full potential. This led me to
sell my music for far less than it was worth and made me a poor man. I did work
for my brother as a bookkeeper in his steamboat business, but after three years
I returned to Pennsylvania to focus on my music.
In 1850 I marred Jane
Denny McDowell. We had one daughter named Marion. Due to my focus on my music,
I did not spend much time with my wife and daughter. They did join me several
times in New York when I was living there and working on music, and I did take
a trip down the Mississippi river with my wife to see New Orleans. This was the
only time I went into the Deep South, before this I had only been to
Kentucky.
I realized early on that
the key to obtaining an audience for my songs and my message was on the
minstrel stage. “Oh Susanna” was my first successful song to be performed. The
Christy Minstrel performed “Oh Susanna” and made it popular. I only made $100
off of this song, and I realized that this was not a success, as much as it was
a letdown. I did realize after this sale
that I could be a songwriter.
I studied music and
language. I spent a lot of time around immigrant communities so I could learn
about their style. It was my goal to write songs that everyone could relate to.
Many of my songs will be passed on to future generations. My song “Sewanee
River” will one day be deemed politically incorrect.
I was ahead of my time in
this area. There were no real copyright laws or rights for artists. I quit my
book keeping job and returned to New York. I signed a contract with Firth,
Pond, and Co, which was a New York Publishing Company, on December 3, 1849.
Unfortunately I was never
made rich by my songs. I made rash decisions when selling them and often sold
them for far less than they were worth. This was a contributing factor in why
my wife left me.
First Editorial Response by Stephen
Collins Foster
Pittsburgh is a political
hot bed for abolitionist activities and figures. My close friend Charles Shiras
is a leader in this movement. He was inspired by William Lloyd Garrison and
Fredrick Douglas, both of which made appearances in Pittsburgh. He began a
newspaper that ran a series of antislavery articles. Together we wrote a song
and this song was never published.
Because I have not really
traveled to the Deep South and seen firsthand slavery up close, I do not really
know the full impact it would have to free the slaves. I feel like it is wrong
to hold another human being in bondage against their will. It is through my
music that I try to explain that to the white population. It is my deepest wish
that my songs are performed true to how they would sound coming from the lips
of the Negro.
It is obvious to me that
the Negro, though enslaved and owned like an animal, is human. He walks like a
human being. He talks like a human being. And, when his family is sold away
from him, or him from them, I am sure that he feels the same human sorrow as
would a white man in this same situation. When my songs are not humorous (“Camp
Town Racism”) or romantic (“I dream of Jeanie with the Long Brown Hair”), they
often deal with sad human issues that are often forced upon the Negro. He is
helpless due to his low status. Yet he is human.
If he is was in his
African home he would raise his family according to moral standards that fit
his situation. He might even participate in a government though simple by our
standards.
SECOND
EDITORIAL BY STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER
While I have utmost
sympathy for the enslaved black man, I am aware of how abolition of slavery
would affect the poor white man. The poor white man, though he does not own a
slave could be adversely affected by the abolition of slavery.
I was
born modestly well off but my family’s finances were always in a state of flux,
up sometimes and hovering just above the poverty line at other, this despite
him holding public office. I was close enough to that line to see the
devastation wrought upon a family when a breadwinner loses his employment or
his health, which his employment depends upon. One might fear that a free black
man might leave the farm or plantation to seek work in the city. If the black man
were to do this it could be another threat to a white man’s livelihood.
We
cannot also discount the unrealistic fear of the poor white man that the
“inferior” black man, if free, could move into the poor white man’s
neighborhood and mix his genes with the gene pool, namely, his sons and
daughters.
I
understand the fears of my white peers about how the Negro being freed could
cause social friction, but I feel like this is something that is humanly right
to do. There is a fear that in the South the social order might be up-ended.
If we
free the Negros, do we also let them vote? If they vote and outnumber us do we
get black lawmakers who enslave us? Do we get laws that steal our heritage from
our children? We would hope black electors would be as honest as white
electors, but if we have stolen their heritage where is our complaint if they
steal ours.
CONCLUSION
Stephen Collins Foster
was the Simon and Garfunkel of his day. He was a self-musician who taught
America about itself. During his lifetime he was never fully credited for his
contributions to American Culture.
On January 13, 1864 he
died in New York City. He was estranged from his wife and daughter and
penniless. He had only 38 cents in his pocket.
REFERENCES
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId
www.nndb.com/phtteople/
Deane L. Root. "Foster, Stephen";
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Access Date: Fri Jan 01 2016 20:56:23 GMT-0600 (Central Standard
Time)
Stephen Foster. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Stephen-Foster
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