Only a passing reference from Guest_mg about Stephan Foster's "Nellie Was a Lady" --

"Nellie was a lady,
Last night she died,
Toll the bell for handsome Nell
My dark Virginny bride."

Fresh in my mind, of course, because Jennifer Wood sang it at NEFFA yesterday. Also sung by Helen Schneyer and recorded recently by Sara Grey.

First song expressing the (then) impossible belief that a black African-American could be a lady.

Linn