Origins of Ragtime Music
"All Coons Look Alike to Me" is a song by Ernest Hogan, who is one of the first ragtime musicians, as well as one of the first to popularize the slur coon. The black composer was a famous comedian and musician, and he later regretted using the word in his songs due to the impact it had on the formation of the genre of "coon songs". Many other early black musicians had similar stories of using racial stereotypes in music and comedy, as that was close to the only acceptable form of performance by black men in the late 19th century.
Coalhouse as a ragtime musician is an interesting choice because he completely defies this early trend of black men having to conform to racist expectations. He is confident and proud and does not allow racial stereotypes to be pushed onto him. While it would be easier for him in many cases to conform, such as when his car is vandalized and when firefighters stop him for no reason, he prioritizes the righteousness of his values over his own comfort and ease of life.
This makes him an interesting and unusual character for the time period, since much of the rest of the book Ragtime is based on representing archetypes of people in the fictional characters. Mother, Father, YB, and Tateh and his family are characters to illustrate common mindsets or people in the time period, but Coalhouse is a made-up character who does not represent a common occurrence or character of the time. Despite his personality, though, the book does come back to the historical reality for black men at the time, as Coalhouse dies at the end of the book after being stopped and questioned every time his pride shows.
The use of ragtime music at all is also interesting, since it's roots are in black musicians in St Louis and Mississippi, where racial and wealth inequalities were particularly formative to the culture, and ragtime being a form of music started from the lower class reflects the themes of wealth contrasts in the book.
We talked a lot in class about how the style of Ragtime music reflects the book's style, but not about how its history does the same. I liked your point about the class tensions in the book, and how until the end, Coalhouse fights against conforming to racial stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteThe reference to Hogan's racist mistrel-show composition is definitely relevant to the complex cultural position Coalhouse occupies--Father would likely be a fan of this song, and it's clear that such minstrel performers are his only point of reference for "Black music" at this time. But Coalhouse makes absolutely clear that HE is NOT a "minstrel performer in blackface"--his personal style more closely resembles a later jazz composer or bandleader like Duke Ellington or Count Basie. He presents himself as a professional and a serious artist, and he is offended when Father associates him with minstrelsy. It's true that ragtime music overlapped in many people's minds with minstrelsy, but it's important to remember that Hogan and others were doing (literally) pale imitations of the work of composers like Scott Joplin, after whom Coalhouse models his own persona.
ReplyDeletecoalhouse is definetly an interesting character in this book. youre absolutely right, he doesnt really fit the time period all too well for someone of his position, race aside, and it makes you wonder if thats because hes not a character of this time period. perhaps he's meant to symbolize some fortelling? either way, i like your comparrison here with the minstrel performers and early ragtime composers. unrelated, but i really like your blog page theme- very pretty.
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