Was Thomas Edison Racist?

Question

Dont Get me wrong.I respect Thomas Edison alot.He helped create music.But would he allow people to sing and play racial songs if he wasnt racist?Listen to this song.Its only 1 minute and14 seconds.Its old but you can here it clearly.
http://www.archive.org/download/LenSpencer/LenSpencer-AllCoonsLookAliketoMe.mp3
I know the song is weird but still...The Songs Name is "All Coons Look Alike To Me".The name is racist itself.Why would Thomas Edison allow this song to be playd if he wasnt racist/I know it was normal to think like that back then.Was it for money or maybe attention?What do you think?

In Case You Cant Here It...
The song goes like this:

Announcer:
"All Coons Look Alike To Me," sung by Arthur Collins with banjo accompaniment by Mr. Vess L. Ossman, Edison Records.

Collins:
Talk about your coons having trouble,
I think I have enough of ma own;
It's all about my Lucy Janey Stubbles,
And she has caused my heart to mourn.
There's another coon, a barber from Virginia,
In society he's the leader of the day.
And now my honey gal's gwine to quit me,
Yes, she's gone and drove this coon away

She'd no excuse
To turn me loose
I've been abused
I'm all confused

-Uhyeugh, Lawd! [spoken]-
Cause these words she then did sing:
[chorus, whomping on the boldface]
All coons look alike to me!
I've got another beau, you see,
And he's just as good to me
As you
-******-[spoken]
ever tried to be,
He spends his money free.
I know we can't agree,
So I don
Then it repeats...

Answer 1

This particular case is complicated by the fact that the song "All Coons Look Alike to Me" was written by the *black* composer Ernest Hogan -- but a look through the Edison Records catalog of that period turns up dozens of other examples of songs with similar content. They were known as "coon songs" and were a major part of mainstream American popular culture in the 1890s and 1900s -- the vocal equivalent of ragtime. *Every* major recording company of the time in the United States recorded and marketed "coon songs" -- not just Edison's company. As you say, such reliance on stereotype was considered "normal" at the time. This recording wouldn't have stood out as unusual for its racial content -- stuff like this was *everywhere* -- so it wouldn't have been recorded for "attention." In fact, contemporaries would have found it much *more* surprising had Edison protested -- something like a recording company CEO refusing, on moral grounds, to release a song by a best-selling artist today because it portrayed overweight people in a disrespectful light. If Edison Records hadn't recorded the most popular songs of the day (and this was one of them), they would have lost sales to the competition -- so sure, it was ultimately about money, just as decisions by big recording companies are today. We don't really learn much from this recording about Edison's own racial ideas (indeed, routine decisions about what recordings to market were decided by committee, not just by Edison himself), but we DO learn something about what mainstream American culture was like back then.

Answer 2

Sad as it sounds, things were more acceptable, even only a few decades ago. I remember having a toy called a golliwog, and I loved him to pieces. When my son was born I wanted one for him but they had been taken off the market as by now the term golliwog was deemed racist. You can buy them now as 'gollies'.
We had an old sit com called Love Thy Neighbour in the 70's, about a white couple and their black next door neighbours. It would just never get the green light to be made nowadays because attitudes have changed and what was acceptable isn't any longer. it will be interesting in 30 years time to see what we now consider as normal and acceptable has become controversial and political

Answer 3

HOW LONG u people waist ur lives in diggins such useless things,if u find something with Edison accept it ,if nothing favourable for u,just ignore it,since he created some music may be meant for else,however music has silent message.try to hear that,there is nothing in the things like racist or something ,all human beings are created by the SUPREME as equal,its ur society which raised such barriers.

Answer 4

I dont think he was racist. Juxt because u listened to some song u cant say he was racist. Even if he was, what's it to u? He's dead and gone long ago & u can't change that. So stop fretting about the past & live in the present.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

How can you ask was Thomas Edison racist just by listening to this song?

Answer 7

Nope

Answer 8

Its hard to tell, but it does seem kind of racist

Answer 9

no

Answer 10

YOU ARE A HIPPOCRITE CHRISTIAN