Or maybe, "...richer than ony o' you"

Myself, I choose by each song.
I've been reading this thread and thinking about a song we sang last week at my mother's memorial celebration. We chose a number of songs she'd sung with us kids and shared them with those who came -- passed out words, and I played the pump organ while everyone sang.
One of those songs was a Stephen Foster song called "Old Black Joe" and I changed one word in it -- instead of singing "I hear their darkie voices calling," we sang " I hear their gentle voices calling..."
It's Stephen Foster, so it speaks in the voice of a slave who is being called home by his friends after a life of hard labor, and it was written by a white southerner.
I wouldn't sing it at a folk club, but it is a part of my family history, and I liked singing it with my family and Mom's friends. Still when someone asked me after why I'd picked that racist chestnut, it made me wonder if it is a mistake to ever sing songs that have any racist connotations.
The words:

Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay
Gone are my friends, from the cotton fields away,
Gone from this earth, to a better land, I know
I hear their gentle voices calling, Old Black Joe
I'm coming, I'm coming, for my head is bending low
I hear their gentle voices calling, Old Black Joe.

What do you think?
Blessings,
Barbara