My Old Kentucky Home Archives - Andscape

Culture

History of ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ examines how Black performers had to act out caricatures of plantation life

After Reconstruction, minstrel songs were one of the few paying options for talented Black singers

By Emily Bingham

Culture

Minstrel songs like ‘The Eyes of Texas’ were once common on college football Saturdays in the South

Tunes such as ‘Dixie’ and ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ reframed grueling Black physical labor as a subject of light entertainment for white fans

By Carrie Allen Tipton

‘My Old Kentucky Home’ has no place in a US sporting event

A closer look at the lyrics of a song that is synonymous with the Kentucky Derby