You may well be right Jack - there was a nationalistic (rather than racial) approach to traditional singing in Britain as well - have Harker made his name by grossly overstated it
Idon't think that detracts in any way from the contribution these people made - as I said, they were very much of their time
You might well extend your hostility to the suggestion that Steve's suggestion that 'foreign material' was introduced into the English tradition bia literature rather than life experience
For me, is shows a disturbing lack of understanding of folk traditions
I like Gerould for what he had to say on ballads (basically on the basis of one book and article - beyond that, he remains a stranger)
What he says makes sense
If his implied racism influenced his opinions on ballads you might have a point - I can't see that it does.

I can think of many analogies of when I apply this approach - one very simple one springs to mind
One of the first book s I ever read and enjoyed was the Rev. Charles Kingsley's 'The Water Babies' among other books it inspired me to become a life-long 'chain' reader
Over the last few years I have discovered that KIngsley was a raving racist who detested the Famine-fleeing Irish and described them as 'white savages, no different than their counterparts in the Congo' - two doses of racism in one spoonful.
As much as I detest the man for that, I can't see that it detracts from his classic children's book and the reforms that it brought about in the conditions of Victorian Chimney Sweepers' slaves.
   
I'll take from these people the good things they have to offer nad reject the bad - as I ma prepared to do with Gerould and Sharp
Jim