Comments on: Guest Post: The Mormon What????

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:23:40 +0000

Standard public meaning for 1905, steve: happy, happy-go-lucky, cheerful, with an added tinge of racism (this is minstrelsy, after all, where blacks were routinely parodied as happy-go-lucky fools performing for the amusement of whites). Absolutely no reason whatsoever to think there is any whiff of the modern usage referring to homosexuality attached to the word in this public, early 20th century venue.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:11:50 +0000

curious as to the use of “gay” in the second verse

By: Mike Bennion

Mike Bennion — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:33:12 +0000

I am working on a seminar essay about ethnoracial Mormonism and the “Greater Reconstruction” This is a really important piece to include in the historiography, along with Nate Oman, Sarah Barringer Gordon, Todd Kerstetter, Elliott West, Laurence Moore, Denise Buell (1st century Christian ethnoracial topics) and others.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:05:26 +0000

Chris, we all acknowledge that political scientists always have something revelatory and profound to say, so what’s the harm in letting a lawyer diss a social scientist? Think of all the lawyer jokes he has to endure.

Which reminds me. Did you hear the one about the lawyer who …

By: Chris H.

Chris H. — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:43:45 +0000

“like so many social scientists”

Really? From the mouth of a lawyer>

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:19:27 +0000

McWhorter fails (like so many social scientists) to say anything that all people everywhere haven’t known since they were at their mothers’ knees. Criticism or mockery or slurs about the group you belong to are acceptable when spoken by an insider–but God have mercy on your soul if you, an outsider, say those same things.

That blacks among themselves used a word to describe themselves–or sub-groups within their race–is completely irrelevant to the question whether the use of the word “coon” in the song in the OP is bigoted and racist. It was in 1906 and it is now, and it’s foolish to suggest that blacks’ use of that term among themselves somehow changes that.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:19:12 +0000

The materials in the OP are historical artifacts illustrating how racial words and images were applied to Mormons and Mormonism. The quotation had nothing to do with Mormonism, and, out of context, appears to justify, even celebrate, the continued modern use not only of “coon” but of other racial terms spelled out in those paragraphs. The full context of McWhorter’s article is necessary to understand the limited case he was discussing.

I appreciated your links and was glad you broadened the discussion — thanks for providing the link to McWhorter, as well as the link in your next comment. I hope readers will click through to both. Unless and until readers click through, though, the standalone paragraphs were a little too raw for my taste. That’s all — my editing wasn’t meant to suggest that your material was not relevant or that by posting those paragraphs you had violated any comment policy. I simply prefer readers to see those paragraphs in context, there, and not in isolation, here.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:03:16 +0000

Ardis, I don’t see the difference between the McWhorter paragraphs I quoted and this post on “The Mormon Coon” that you put up, but it’s your website. If you feel like explaining, I would be curious to hear why Dunbar and Russell’s words weren’t fit for this space while MMM’s post is.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:49:35 +0000

It looks like Dunbar and Cook had another show in 1899 called "Uncle Eph's Christmas." Here is an interesting profile of Cook: link. It makes me wonder what the race of Raymond A. Browne and Henry Clay Smith was.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:16:54 +0000

For a bit of perspective here's linguist John McWhorter:

[Edited -- The paragraphs quoted are remarkably unpleasant in isolation. I prefer to point readers to that article with your link than have the paragraphs stand alone, out of context, here. -- AEP]