Coon song | |
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![]() Sheet music for "Coon, Coon, Coon", which bills itself as "The Most Successful Song Hit of 1901" with insert photo of minstrel show star Lew Dockstader in blackface | |
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | c. 1840s United States |
Other topics | |
Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of Black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880[1] to 1920,[2] though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they were not yet identified with "coon" epithet.[3] The genre became extremely popular, with White and Black men[4] giving performances in blackface and making recordings. Women known as coon shouters also gained popularity in the genre.[5]