Yes, there's a Stephen Foster song called "Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground", and the lyrics of that one are truly unbelievable (the slave's tender lament for his or her master). I agree completely with Bert Hansen (except that "Massa's in..." will never be acceptable). But I have no idea what's offensive in "Old Black Joe". There is no hint that the singer found anything good about slavery. My theory is that the song was considered offensive when "black" was a racist word--but since the word has been acceptable if not preferred for thirty years, can't the song be rehabilitated? Is the problem that it's a song by a white man about a fictional black man's experience? I once saw a version of the Uncle Remus story of the Tar Baby in which the "baby" was made sticky with flour paste and glue and stuff like that instead of tar--so it wouldn't be black! This is absurdly misplaced prudishness. I can see eliminating or updating the dialect--but there are in fact babies in the world who are more the color of tar than the color of Elmer's glue. And most American children know that. So why not let it be a fake black baby instead of a fake white baby? On the other hand, the Foster song certainly has BEEN offensive. The book _The Boys of Summer_ (can't remember the author, but it's about the Brooklyn Dodgers of the '50s) includes a story about Joe Black, a black pitcher the Dodgers hired shortly after hiring Robinson and Campanella. In one game that he pitched, the opposing team sang a chorus of "Old Black Joe". Black responded only by throwing a fastball at the head of each of the next nine batters. On another subject, "Goin' Home" is not a spiritual. The tune is from the second movement of Dvorak's symphony _From the New World_ (which I bet my father has in his will for HIS funeral). Dvorak contradicted himself about how much that symphony was influenced by American folk music. Incidentally, the tune has been given other fake-black words, "Massa Dear", now unacceptable. As you might guess, I think the PC word is "spiritual". There may be white gospel ("Wayfaring Stranger, e.g.) but there are no white spirituals.