Diane Hannah
Nov 3 · 1 min read

Thank you for this!

I’ve been listening anew to all of these “kid songs” with my 3yo son and have been startled at the world-building they do. Even if we remove all racist tropes from them, they still conjure nostalgia for a fictionalized past that relies on the minimization of Black suffering.

I am sad to learn about “O Susannah”… and horrified by the original lyrics to “I’ve been working on the railroad”!

But we can do lots better.

To the other commenters who want to use these as teachable moments: sure. Like the author said, you can do it in a museum or a college (or high school) classroom. But when your toddlers and preschoolers are soaking up information like some sponge/black-hole hybrid and they just found a silly song they like, do you really want to bust in and tell them about institutional racism and the history of slavery? Chances are, when you do, they’ll do what you should have done in the first place and stop listening to the song. Making light of tragedy is not the same thing as making sure you’re aware of it.

    Diane Hannah

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