"They'll Be Mighty Proud in Dixie of Their Old Black Joe"
by Campbell and Burr
Sheet music courtesy of Clarence Johnson |
African Americans were a large part of the equation in fighting the war. The early sentiment was to cater to the South who feared arming a black population that had been enslaved and then abused by them. But the numbers of draftable African-American males were impressive and they were, finally, drafted. In all accounts of that action, the draft was seen, by those drafted, as opportunity, not a demand. Yet after they were drafted, blacks were trained separately, housed separately, transported separately, and, when they got to France, assigned to French commanders because American commanders would not have them. It is a sad transcript. Yet, the song writers took this opportunity to create another exculpatory piece of stereotyping. There were many, some of them leaning on the dying tradition of minstrelsy for their structure and purpose and others harkening to the newer tradition of ragtime. In "They'll Be Mighty Proud in Dixie of Their Old Black Joe," there is more minstrel than not. It looks back to Stephen Foster and the original "Old Black Joe" and it holds its own as a commentary on black willingness to join Mr. Wilson's war. It may, also, be the song writer's tool to encourage Americans to accept that black enlistment in the A.E.F. was a good thing. "The other day I chanced to roam," Henry Burr sings,
Beside an old log cabin home,
I saw an ancient darkey
Dressed in khaki,
'Bout to cross the foam.
I said old man why must you go?
Your head of hair is white as snow.
He said I'm not obliged to, sonny, but I want this world to know
I'm a comin', I'm a comin'
And I'm mighty proud to go
Because I seem to hear the army bugle calling,
" Come on Old Black Joe."
The idea that blacks were willing, even among the very aged, would have been good news to a country strapped for recruits after the second draft call. The songwriter is playing to that idea. The old gentleman goes on to suggest that he has the same banjo, a gratuitous stereotype, and the same gun that he used in the Civil War, and that when he crosses the Rhine River that he won't "leave no rind, I know"—another unfortuate stereotype . And then, the sentimental and patriotic hook sets the song in the mouths of the gullible. The old man says "I'll give the whole world liberty / Just like Lincoln did for me / And they'll be mighty proud in Dixie of their Old Black Joe." Altruism in the hands of those least able to afford it is much like sainthood. The South might have been proud, but probably because he was going and not them. He finishes by saying "I hear my Uncle Sam a callin' / and for Him I'll live or die." Except that it is a parody of Foster's fine minstrel piece, this is maudlin to the point of bathos. That it was effective in the situation in which it was released seems undeniable.
Listen: Streaming Real Audio | Windows Media Audio
