I suggest people read "Doo-Dah: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture," by ken Emerson. The minstrel genre, THE popular music of the time, was anything but respectful of African Americans; it was viciously, overtly racist - an entire mode of entertainment centered on racist depictions of another ethnicity. Racism was not incidental to minstrely, it was central to it.

I admit being somewhat torn. I love the Stephen Foster melodies and play them periodically. I've been in bands that play his songs, sometimes sung with original lyrics. I'm not into PC.

But this book was an eye opener and I commend it to anybody interested in this dilemma.