I sent this letter to the Superintendent of schools, their PR spokesperson, the NAACP, and the Detroit News that reported the story.

I live in Thousand Oaks, California and saw the article from Associated Press in our local paper concerning your problems with the song "Pick a Bale of Cotton," which had been scheduled in your folk music choir program. As a folklorist, educator, and music historian, I deplore your removing this song from the program simply because of a few complaints from people who apparently are unaware of the song's history and context. "Pick a Bale of Cotton" (also known as "Jump Down Spin Around")was certainly not a slave song, it was what is known in folklore as a "playparty song," one that was performed during the labor of picking cotton, which was done by both blacks and whites in the South before machinery took over this laborious chore. The lyrics have nothing to do with slavery, nor can the song be traced back that far. The song is attributed to Huddie Ledbetter (aka "Leadbelly"), one of our country's most honored African-American folk singers. Leadbelly was an inmate in the Texas prison system in the early 1930s when he was interviewed at length by folklorist John Lomax, who got him a release because of his knowledge of African-American folk songs. He proceeded to take Leadbelly on tour promoting these songs, of which "Pick a Bale of Cotton" was one. Urban folk music societies learned many traditional American folk songs from Leadbelly. Eventually it became a staple in the repertoires of Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte, two individuals not known for performing "racist" songs.

The ignorance shown by the parents in your district as well as your own inability to defend our American musical heritage is a symptom of a wider malady in this country regarding our social history as it relates to music. If you're going to cut "Pick a Bale of Cotton," why stop there? Let's forget all about Stephen Foster and his attempts to tame the harsh, racist songs of minstrelsy by showing sympathy for slaves and their culture. Let's cut George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" because of its rude depiction of African-American dialect; let's eliminate "Ol' Man River" from Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II's "Showboat," our first groundbreaking American musical, because it speaks directly of slavery. And while we're at it, let's eliminate every spiritual born in the South in the 19th century, which also remind us of the slaves' plight.

I taught American music history to students from 1st to 6th grades for two years in the Conejo Valley Unified School District here in California. During this time, I taught children about where the music came from, historically and socially. I taught about the history of spirituals, the deplorably racist entertainment that came out of minstrelsy, which lasted until the 1940s in this country. I taught about where the blues came from, played sanctified preachers' sermons, gospel music, how ragtime emerged from elements of slavery, and jazz as well. They absolutely loved the class, would tell their parents about it, ask to hear more of the music, learn the songs and sing them back to me. They learned what a "hootenanny" was, they learned about Tin Pan Alley, about the origins of the "cakewalk," and how African Americans played a part in the history of recorded sound.

Leadbelly's music is as important to today's students as "The Star Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America." If we had an educational system that encouraged rather than discouraged teaching students about our own music, kids would be a lot more sensitive to what is going on around them not only in the schools but in everyday life. Don't kill off our heritage. It's what should be making us proud to be Americans and what we've done to overcome our prejudices.

Feel free to pass this letter on to your students, your local NAACP chapter, the press, and anyone else who would be interested. I will be happy to address any questions about this issue. Music education is my life and I can't stand seeing ignorance and blind political correctness erase a rich and valuable part of our musical heritage.

Cary Ginell