With regards to the somewhat off-topic post from Azizi 09 Apr 09 - 09:29 AM:

That's all well and good, Azizi, but when it comes to the scholarly discussion and study of folk songs, it is usually best to submit the information one has collected, without moralizing or editorializing.
Q has no reason to apologize for a song written over a hundred years ago. He's better off to post it and let people make their own judgment - they can read for themselves when the song was written, and understand its context.

He posts lots of songs from that era, more from Black sources than from white. It would be ludicrous for him to post some sort of caveat or apology with every song, just in case somebody might be offended.

Also, please note that Azizi's messages above were posted in a thread about an incident that happened during World War II, not about "19th century and earlier African American 'plantation songs,' African American spirituals, and American minstrel songs-all of which happened 'a long time ago.'" Rather than allow her to divert yet another thread from its original topic of discussion, I was tempted to move her messages and their responses to a new thread. Azizi has a point - not that I agree with it - but it certainly does not fit into the World War II discussion.

-Joe Offer-