Jingle Bells Originally Performed in Minstrel Show

Subject: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:22 AM

Boston University professor claims Jingle Bells is RACIST because it was 'first performed in blackface and made fun of African-Americans'

*    Boston University theater professor Kyna Hamill made startling claim in paper
*    World-famous Christmas carol was composed in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont
*    Hamill asserts first performance of Jingle Bells was done in blackface
*    Urges reflection on song's 'problematic role in the construction of blackness'

By Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com

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Kyna Hamill, a BU theater historian, says Jingle Bells has racist roots

A professor has claimed that Jingle Bells has racist roots because it was first performed in blackface.

'The legacy of 'Jingle Bells' is one where its blackface and racist origins have been subtly and systematically removed from its history,' wrote Kyna Hamill, a Boston University theater historian, in a research paper that is making waves.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5186289/Jingle-Bells-RACIST-claims-Boston-University-professor.html

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http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/12/bu_prof_s_find_of_racist_origins_in_jingle_bells_hits_sour_note

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Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Will Fly
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:26 AM

Who cares - it's a crap song anyway. The "author" should have been frozen in permafrost before putting pen to paper.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Ernest
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 06:32 AM

Will: apparently that was what happened before.... ;0)

With the author - and the professor.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Raggytash
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 06:55 AM

So what you are saying is the way in which was originally performed was racist. That does not mean the song itself is racist which is what the titled of the thread would have one believe.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:02 AM

How very strange! This is all news to me. I've always imagined (erroneously) that the song depicted a Scandinavian scene of some sort.
I can't find anything in the words that could be construed as racist, and the fact it was originally sung in 'Blackface' says more about the singers than the song itself.
My pupils used to adore this Christmas song, with the addition of hand-bells to shake vigorously. I always played the piano for them with tremendous gusto, thumping away until we were all grinning and happy.
Such a shame if the Politically Correct Brigade were to ban it.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:02 AM

Reminds me a bit of the Christopher Isherwood bon mot - EVENTUALLY WE'RE AL QUEER.

EVENTUALLY WE'RE ALL RACIST.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Is there anyone in the Western world who has never sung this 'racist' song?

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Will Fly
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:18 AM

Only under extreme pressure, such as for money...

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:28 AM

My black husband has often sung it, although he hasn't yet mastered the words apart from the chorus. It sounds more like "Jeengle belle jeengle belle, jeengle aul zee way..." then he has to resort to "da-da-da, dee da-da-da". But he likes the tune. He'll be astonished no doubt when I tell him it's potentially racist (and probably laugh his socks off!).

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:34 AM

I wonder if Bobtail should be a transgender horse?

I've just done some Googling, and it appears in the original version there was a 'Miss Fanny Bright' seated in the sleigh. Words fail me...

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:40 AM

Did she live in Fanny Crackle Lane in Ludford Lincolnshire UK

If you don't believe me look on google maps

Gerry

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:44 AM

And fanny has a different meaning in the UK for the benefit of our US members

Gerry

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Raggytash
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 07:47 AM

Ahem! My Grandmother name was Fanny.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 08:03 AM

Hahahaha! Fanny Crackle Lane! I'd love to live there.

My Granny was called Frances, and Fanny used to be a nickname for that (eg Fanny Price in Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park'), but no-one in our family ever called her 'Fanny'. (Granny Fanny sounds a bit...er...)

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Nick
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 08:26 AM

Let's play "spot the troll"

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 08:33 AM

Well, GUEST, my Muslim husband loves Christmas in our village, and adores the Carol Service in our ancient church. He'd be furious if it was cancelled on his behalf!!

And who are 'The Muslims' in London? Bit of a generalisation eh?

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Stu
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 09:14 AM

The minions version is far superior to any other.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Mark Ross
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 09:38 AM

Learned this from Haywire Brack, my brother of the Rose Tattoo;

Dashing down the aisle
With an empty pocketbook,
I can't afford to buy,
So I'll just have to look,
Bells on registers ring
Making me uptight,
I guess I'll have to go and rob
A liquor store tonight!

Stick em' up, stick 'em up,
Give me all the loot,
Give all the cash and checks,
And the credit cards to boot,
Stick 'em up, stick 'em up,
Christmas should be free,
I can't beat inflation,
But inflation won't beat me!

To the tune of JINGLE BELLS of course.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 09:50 AM

Just found an old post of mine on the Christmas songs parodies thread:

Jingle bells
Rudolf smells
All the elves are gay.
Santa Claus
Ripped his drawers
Then he ran away.   

(My Glasgow pupils taught me this. It should be sung in a very strong Glasgow accent, and apologies for the homophobia)

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 09:51 AM

The vast majority of Christmas carols are anti-realist. As a realist does that mean I can't sing them? It's enough to make one want to change one's ism.

Adolf Hitler once sang 'Stille nacht'. Well that's out the window then.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 10:27 AM

And Santa Claus is fat-ist, and we shouldn't have pantomime dames or horses...................
Jingle Bells was the single most popular song at a Christmas tearoom event for kids, which we played for last weekend. As it was a moving population of people coming and going, it must have been done at least 6 times - twice through each time - in the course of 3 hours. The kids played along with my set if bells and other percussion we'd brought. Payment was a cup of tea, a glass of non-alcoholic mulled wine, and a hot mince pie.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: meself
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 11:01 AM

Political correctness gone mad! Censorship! Book-burning! Not allowed to say Merry Christmas! ... (did I miss anything?).

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 11:07 AM

"Who cares - it's a crap song anyway." You might like to add (IMO) on the end, Will. The song has certainly been extremely popular for over a century. Its tune was utilised for a well-known folksong written at about the same time. Wonder if you know which one.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 11:15 AM

I hope no-one is going to mention Zwarte Piet...

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 11:27 AM

David Kritchevsky wrote a funny little scientific ditty to the tune of Jingle Bells, about how cholesterol is formed - 'The Cholesterol Biosynthesis Song'.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 11:28 AM

Gaaah! That was me. Forgot to fill in the 'from' box.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 12:41 PM

This Boston University professor is both stark raving bonkers and clearly a pain in the neck!!!

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: RTim
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 01:13 PM

It was also originally written for Thanksgiving - NOT Christmas!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Will Fly
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 01:47 PM

Very popular indeed, Steve - but I still can't stand it! Just personal choice...

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 01:54 PM

I can't abide 'Once In Royal David's City'; it's tedious and shrieky IMO.
But it's very popular, and most Carol Services on Christmas Eve start with it.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 02:22 PM

First, I'd suggest reading the Herald American article linked in the OP. Hamill emphatically does not call "Jingle Bells" a racist song or ask that it not be sung. She does trace the history of its blackface performance from the antebellum south through the 1930s. It turns out the stink is not being made by Hamill, but by Breitbart, the Daily Mail, and the like.

Second, I'd like to ask you to put yourself in the place of an African American who is curious about the origins of a beloved holiday song, and in her research discovers that it was originally and then persistently performed in blackface--a form of performance designed to ridicule her race, appearing when Africans were thought subhuman, and used to perpetuate this belief long after slavery. Kind of spoils the fun, doesn't it?

I don't know how Hamill reacted, but if I were her, I'd think, "Oh, crap, they did it again. Is there no place free from this shit?"

As a white American, I think such reminders of the pervasiveness of racism in our cultural history are salutory and always timely.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 02:38 PM

I'm interested to know why Blackface performers chose this particular song with which to 'ridicule' African Americans, because the words seem to have no relevance to any race or colour, unlike the Dixie/minstrel type of songs about 'pickin'cotton' etc sung in accents from the Southern States and depicting black people in a demeaning way. I just can't picture African Americans in the mid 1880's having much to do with a sleigh ride through the snow.

If as someone suggested, it was written to celebrate Thanksgiving, doesn't that take place in November, and is there always snow in Boston at that time? I've looked up weather conditions there, and it seems there can be an inch or two, but not very often.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: RTim
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 02:48 PM

Please read the link below for the History and Origins of the song!

One Horse Open Sleigh


Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 03:10 PM

thanks for the link, Tim

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,guest akenaton
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 03:37 PM

Well pardon my stupidity, but having studied the link, I can find nothing at all racist in the song.
Does the fact that the song was once sung in "minstrel shows" make the song itself racist...surely not?

I remember the "Black and White Minstrel Show" on BBC TV and they performed all kinds of songs usually very well indeed. It was one of the most popular entertainments shows on TV.
So any thing which has been sung by "Minstrels" is inherently racist?
Madness.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:00 PM

Senofou, there is no such brigade.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,akenaton.
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:07 PM

Oh! Yes there is!!

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:09 PM

and many of them dwelleth herein.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:10 PM

After the initial mad burst of popularity from about 1840 to 1850 which included many African American caricature songs in the Minstrel repertoire, the repertoire of the vastly expanded number of troupes became much more general and included a great number of comic and sentimental songs with no African American content whatsoever. These troupes were also very popular in Britain and some of them were even all British performers. However they did still black up. Their popularity in Britain continued at a pace until about 1910 and then other forms put them in decline until after WWII when they had a brief revival on TV. The B&WMS did include a lot of the songs from the shows but some of them were still the old type of caricature songs. The fact that Pierpoint's song was appropriated by the Minstrel troupes shouldn't detract from its usage in modern day. The Minstrel Troupes at some point sang just about everything available. Do we chuck out the whole lot?

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:11 PM

Anonymous Guest above who made the stupid racist comment. Go away you are not welcome here

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:25 PM

Just to repeat, Hamill NEVER said the song "Jingle Bells" was racist. NO ONE has suggested it not be sung. What is the point in heroically defending something that is not under attack?

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:38 PM

"The Professor Urges reflection on song's 'problematic role in the construction of blackness'"


Weasel words for a box of weasels.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:40 PM

Sorry .....bloody handle.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:43 PM

Okay JD
We Brits should have spotted the Daily Mail source right away. This is absolutely typical of the DM's racist stirring fake news.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:50 PM

If any Christmas song is racist, it surely must be "White Christmas"!

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 04:55 PM

Steve - I spotted that. A newspaper that will only be happy when we are a fascist dictatorship

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:00 PM

Steve, the thread title and the OP certainly skews the story, but I'm thankful the Herald American link was included.

" Weasel words for a box of weasels."

Akeneton, you've shifted your ground and your targets in your second post, haven't you? You quote Hamill partially and out of context as well. Painful as it is for me to think so, I must doubt that you're posting wholly in the interest of fairness and accuracy.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:03 PM

Senoufou, there may be snow in November, although there may not be. Two of the last maybe? 6 years, there have been major storms around Halloween, Oct 31st.

This thread is proof that some people can get riled up over just about anything. Have fun!

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:21 PM

It's as bonkers as gender neutral and transgender nonsense.

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:26 PM

What do you mean 'nonsense'. They are real issues for real people

Subject: RE: Jinge Bells is Racist
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 17 Dec 17 - 05:33 PM

"It's as bonkers as gender neutral and transgender nonsense."

I sense some thread drift here.

Bonzo, have you read what Hamill actually said? If so, do you have anything to say about the discrepancy between her words and the way they have been misrepresented by the media and some posters here?