Exactly. “Old Black Joe” is a case in point. But Foster’s songs are probably a bit to subtle for today’s social justice warriors. Out of ignorance about Foster and his works, they will see only what they want to see, and they won’t like it.
Look at how “Huckleberry Finn” has been criticized, even banned, because of the use of certain racial terminology, especially in regard to Jim. But, by my reading of the book, Jim is the only truly unconflicted decent and moral person in it, and is its hero.
I agree. Jim comes through better than anybody else. What they call the “N-word” was originally just the Southern pronunciation of “Negro,” which had morphed into “nigra” and was slurred to its present form. It became a pejorative term later, of course, and I wish blacks would stop using it.