I think it's fair to ask why the songs are offensive.

They were certainly not intended to offend--often, they were intended to be humorous instead, and, in fact many of the "offensive" songs were written by African-American songwriters, Ernest Hogan's "All Coons Look Alike to Me", (one of the most disturbing song title ever) being an example.

George W. Johnson, who was the world's first recording star of color (and pretty close to the first recording star of any kind), wrote and performed now horrifying song, "The Whistling Coon", and promoted himself as "The Whistling Coon, the Laughing Darkie"

There is fair reason to believe that the appellation "coon", and concept of "coon songs" was derived from "coon jine" which was the name given to a stepping movement used by crews who worked on the river boats. It seems to be derived from a type of Aftican dance, "counjai"--none of which is offensive.

Slavery, of course, was offensive. The institution of racism was, and is, offensive. Lynchings, beatings, cross burnings, and segregation were, and are offensive.

"Jim Crow" laws are offensive, and that is where innocent entertainment and reality collide--"Jim Crow", as all good Mudcatters know, having been the name of a song and character popularized by minstrel show performer T.D. "Daddy" Rice somewhere around 1830, and it was adopted as a label for the segregationist laws and social order imposed from the 1880's onward.

So the innocent, though undoubtably naive images from popular entertainment were chewed up and spit back out as something profoundly venomous. The stereotypes and caricatures, drawn up simply to amuse, were turned into labels, that in turn were used deny the humanity of living, breathing, people.

This has caused us to blot out the memory of performers like George W. Johnson, and to ignore minstrelry and a lot of ragtime, which really played an enormous role in the evolution of our contemporary music.