Susan, outside of the first guest poster to this thread, I am the only one who has contributed, for all that is worth.

Since people here are planning on compiling this into a study thread eventually, I'm adding a few things I think provides important insight and perspective from OUTSIDE Mudcat.

First:

From the Parlor Songs website:

http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/coonsongs/coonsongs.asp

"Because of the lyrics in Coon songs, none of these songs are seen or performed today as they were originally written. It is even with some trepidation that we have dared to perform a few of them here at ParlorSongs. But, we do believe it is a chapter in our musical history that should not and cannot be swept under the rug. It seems a shame to have an entire genre of song lost to today because of the words, yet we could not tolerate a resurgence."