It's not Lead Belly (two word's please) song! He made it popular, but the Lomax's recorded several versions during their collecting.

You may be right in everything you say about the song. Yes, images portrayed by the media and artists recordings can be misleading and false. That still doesn't hide the fact that many people are uncomfortable with singing this song for reasons other than it's history.

I played three versions of it on my radio show this week - Lead Belly's (more of a dance version), Harry Belafonte's (a very odd sounding setting if you look at it from a 2005 perspective) and the Freedom Singers (probably my favorite and one that I would classify as "self-affirming", but that is my opinion only.)    The story of "self-affirmation" has been told, and in that school. Just not in the concert.

It is not a "misunderstanding" but a legitimate response to the words and style of the song as felt by more than one African-American in 2005. For the 1000th time, no one is hiding or banning the song.