HUM 223: Links for midterm

Here are links to information you need in order to answer the questions on your midterm exam (posted below).

Question 1

Question 1, the 50-point essay, is based on the video we watch of the Public Broadcasting System show Stephen Foster. PBS has a website at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/ full of supporting material on the show, including a summary and a transcript of the show. I very strongly recommend that you follow this link and have the transcript in front of you as you watch the show. You also can - and should - quote from the transcript as you write your essay for the midterm.

Also on the Stephen Foster website is a set of 12 very brief essays on blackface minstrelry. The essays come from interviews with historians Dale Cockrell, Eric Lott, Deane Root, Fath Ruffins and Josephine Wright, writers Ken Emerson and Mel Watkins, and performers Nanci Griffith and Thomas Hampson. Topics are:

1. How did blackface minstrelsy begin?
2. Why did it spread in the 1830s?
3. What was a blackface minstrel show?
4. Who went to the shows?
5. How were the minstrel shows racist?
6. Was blackface minstrelsy only about caricaturing blacks?
7. How did class frictions relate to blackface minstrelsy?
8. How did class issues relate to the race issues?
9. Although blackface minstrelsy was racist, did it have any benefit for African Americans?
10. What's the connection between blackface minstrelsy and rock and roll?
11. What legacy did blackface minstrelsy create for American culture today?
12. Should we change Foster's songs to remove their racist aspects, or not perform them?

On the PBS website, each of these topics is a working link. No. 10, for example, takes you to rock critic Ken Emerson, who says, "... in a way rock and roll led me to a long, tortuous path to Stephen Foster because that's where really this interplay and intermix of black and white culture that so defines American music to this day really began." Agree or disagree, it's worth thinking about.

If you want to review what we said about folk music, popular music and art music on the first day of class, and I'll bet you do because you'll be writing about it, this link will take you to our blog "HUM 223: First day, syllabus, etc. [folk, pop, art]" that explains the terms.

Question 2A

Linked to my faculty page is my tip sheet on reflective essays ... the main thing you should know is that while I'll grade you on how specific your answer is and how well you understand the main concepts of the course, I also use these essays as I plan for the second half of the semester.

Question 2B

Here's a link to the video of Michael Franti and Spearhead singing "Hole In The Bucket"(1994):

And here's a link to the lyrics of "Hole in the Bucket". Again, I strongly recommend you have the lyrics open in another window as you watch the video and that you quote from them as you write your midterm.