Nursery Rhymes History

The staff of the Jim Crow Museum receives dozens of letters and emails. Some of these communiques offer insight into race relations -- historically and in the present. While some are hateful, we have decided to share some of these letters and emails with our Internet visitors.

Hello!

I've been reading through the website for a while. It's been very eye-opening for me. I'm a white person who was born in 1994, and as a child I thought racism ended with slavery. Of course, growing up I realized it wasn't that simple, but I never thought about it much. However, these past few years I've learned so much about many social issues. I am shocked at how deeply ingrained racism is in America. The questions of the month are incredibly informative and have been very helpful to me. I also have a question!

Throughout my childhood my friends and I would sing rhymes while jumping rope or clapping hands. Recently, I was feeling a bit nostalgic and started to look up lyrics for some of the ones I'd forgotten the words to. I discovered that songs like "Miss Lucy had a Baby" and "Ten Little Monkeys" had racist origins. It got me thinking about what other songs and games I used to play as a kid had racist roots. I'd like to know more if possible!

Even if you don't answer my question, I still want to say thank you for providing such an educational resource!

Kelsey W
Oklahoma
--June 1, 2015

***The staff of the Jim Crow Museum receives dozens of letters and emails. Some of these communiques offer insight into race relations -- historically and in the present. While some are hateful, we have decided to share some of these letters and emails with our Internet visitors.***

Contact

Jim Crow Museum

The staff of the Jim Crow Museum receives dozens of letters and emails. Some of these communiques offer insight into race relations -- historically and in the present. While some are hateful, we have decided to share some of these letters and emails with our Internet visitors.