Why It Matters

We’re living in an era of misinformation. Some of this can be blamed on honest stupidity, some on the passage of time, some on information overload. Most of that misinformation, however, is intentional. Politicians, lobbyists, radio pundits, fake news channels and even faker political parties are constantly bombarding us with revisionist history (and pseudoscience, but that doesn’t apply here) that suits their interests.

One of their favorite saws is “I want my America back,” which in its most common form posits that everything was better in the 1950s. Next time you hear that argument, feel free to link them to the sleeve of 1957’s Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder.

Now, before you toss a little “that’s just how it was back then” noise my way, keep this in mind: We’re also talking about the year of The Civil Rights Act of 1957, “the first civil rights legislation passed by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction following the American Civil War,” according to our good friends at Wikipedia. At least Congress knew that year that the era of blackface was over. So was the era of Jolson: He died seven years earlier.

But Al was still popular at the end of the decade, and for that matter he remains an important figure in American music and theater. Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder remains in print, though with a much less offensive cover.

So that’s about it for Jolson in blackface, but if the jabberjaws try to convince you that all that slave-era iconography is part of the distant past, tell them that Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima are waiting at the grocery store.

You can expect to pay ten bucks for a copy of this album that you won’t proudly display, or you can get the more politically correct CD for about the same price. Happy hunting.