1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: a show that believes there's no time like the present 4 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: to learn about the past. I'm Gabe Louzier, and in 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: this episode, we're looking at the day when Virginia became 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: the first state to abolish its own official song. A 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: quick warning, the song in question includes racist language, which 8 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: many listeners may rightfully find offense. The day was February seventeen. 9 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: The Virginia House of Delegates voted unanimously to retire the 10 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: state song. For those unfamiliar, a state song is kind 11 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: of like a regional anthem. It's a song that somehow 12 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: encapsulates the tributes of a state or the character of 13 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:06,559 Speaker 1: its people. Some state songs are written specifically for the role, 14 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: and others are existing works that mention a state or 15 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: revoke it in some other way. Currently, forty eight out 16 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: of the fifty U s states claim one or more 17 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: state songs, each of which was approved by the state's 18 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: governor or legislature. Virginia's state song, originally titled carry Me 19 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: Back to Old Virginny, was adopted in nineteen forty and 20 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: became the subject of controversy for decades afterward. The song 21 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: was written in eighteen seventy eight by a renowned black 22 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: composer and minstrel performer named James Allen Bland. Often called 23 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: the world's greatest minstrel man. Bland is believed to have 24 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: written more than six hundred songs, many of which he 25 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: performed himself during tours of both the United States and Europe. 26 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: Carry Me Back to Old Virginny was his best known 27 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: song by far. It quickly been came a staple of 28 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: many white singers in the American South, including George Primrose, 29 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: who sang it while in black face. Bland is thought 30 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: to have adapted the title from a different song called Oh, 31 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: carry Me Back to Old Virginny, a popular tune among 32 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Bland's version catered 33 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: to a similar crowd in the post war years, namely 34 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: to white Southerners who had collectively shrugged off the horrors 35 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: of slavery in favor of a romanticized view of the 36 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: Old South. Many minstrel songs written during reconstruction leaned into 37 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: that sentimentality, comforting white audiences who had grown nostalgic for 38 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: a lost genteel society that never really existed. For example, 39 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: in carry Me Back to Old Virginny, the lyrics are 40 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,799 Speaker 1: sung from the perspective of someone who was formerly enslaved. However, 41 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: the singer makes no reference to the injustices of slavery. Instead, 42 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: he actually longs to return to the land of his bondage. 43 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,519 Speaker 1: The song's implication is a view that many white Southerners 44 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: would have ascribed to at the time, that the plantations 45 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: of the Old South were such beautiful, peaceful places that 46 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: even the men and women who were bound there now 47 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: wish they could go back. That lie forms the basis 48 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: of carrying Me Back to Old Virginny. As you'll hear 49 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: in this nineteen thirty nine rendition performed by Nat King 50 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: Cole and by some women who had no business singing 51 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: carrying Me Back to Virginny. There's where the cock and 52 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: there's where the birds were more sweed in the spring time. 53 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: That's where the old dark's hard a long to go. 54 00:03:54,120 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: There'd for d actor in the field of yellow. Can 55 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: no place honored? Do I love? Martin surly that Virginny 56 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: state in nineteen forty, one, year after that recording was released, 57 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: Virginia's General Assembly named it the official state song. They 58 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: did so on the recommendation of the Lions Clubs of Virginia, 59 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: community groups that often staged minstrel shows in the area 60 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: featuring black face performances. The only real debate at the 61 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: time was whether to amend the title to say Virginia 62 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: instead of Virginia, a motion that ultimately passed. The first 63 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: effort to retire the state song was made in nineteen 64 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: seventy by L. Douglas Wilder, then newly elected Virginia State 65 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: Senator and a grandson of slaves. Wilder was the first 66 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: black person to be elected to the Virginia Senate since reconstruction, 67 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: and he later became the States and the nation's first 68 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: black governor. On February tenth, nineteen seventy, just three weeks 69 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: into his term, Wilder gave his first speech on the 70 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: Senate floor. In it, he recounted an incident from the 71 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: previous night when many of his colleagues sang carry Me 72 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: Back to Old Virginia at a legislative reception. He described 73 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 1: how uncomfortable he and his wife felt as they listened 74 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: and stunned silence until the song was over. At which 75 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: point they both walked out quote so as not to 76 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: dignify the occasion. One week later, while they're introduced a 77 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: bill that would have repealed the state song, but no 78 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: one else agreed to co sponsor it. The resolution died 79 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,799 Speaker 1: without a hearing, and though the song was not sung 80 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: publicly at official events from then on, it remained Virginia's 81 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: anthem for nearly another thirty years. By nine seven, carry 82 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: Me Back to Old Virginia was considered so inappropriate it 83 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,160 Speaker 1: was no longer taught in Virginia schools and hadn't been 84 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: performed at a state function in more than twenty years. 85 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: The obvious conclusion, which lawmakers finally acknowledged that year, was 86 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: that the song was an embarrassment to the state and 87 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: that it had to go. On January, the state Senate 88 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: approved a measure to retire the song with a vote 89 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: of twenty four to fifteen. A few weeks later, on 90 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: February sev it was the House's turn to vote. William P. 91 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: Robinson Jr. A Democratic delegate of Norfolk, touted the historic 92 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: nature of the vote. He said, quote, this puts the 93 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: song where it belongs in history, and it won't be 94 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: troubling us any further. Unfortunately, that wasn't the full truth. 95 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,159 Speaker 1: All one hundred House delegates did vote to repeal the 96 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: songs status that day, but in the end they stopped 97 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: short of dropping the song completely. Instead, they chose to 98 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,279 Speaker 1: designate carry Me Back to Old virgin as the State 99 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: Song Emeritus, an honorary status which it still holds today. 100 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: In the wake of the song's retirement, the Senate of 101 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: Virginia established a State Song Subcommittee to select a new 102 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: state song. Virginians were invited to make suggestions or to 103 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: submit their own original compositions. The subcommittee received more than 104 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: three hundred entries, supplying them with over seventeen hours of 105 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: music to consider. The whole thing fell apart, though, when 106 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: Jimmy Dean, the former country singer turned sausage baron, allegedly 107 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: tried to rig the contest. Apparently, he launched a campaign 108 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: to make one of his tunes the new state song, 109 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: and as part of that effort, he donated a ton 110 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: of sausages to local schools, whose students then wrote letters 111 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: in support of Dean's song. The sausage scandal became national news, 112 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: leading the state Senate to call off the contest without 113 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: naming a winner. Virginia remained without an official state song 114 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: well into the twenty first century. In two thousand six, 115 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: the traditional folk song Ocenandoah was named the interim state song, 116 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,239 Speaker 1: but that sparked a controversy of its own, as many 117 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: people pointed out the song was written from the perspective 118 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: of fur traders traveling down the Missouri River and has 119 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: nothing to do with Virginia. At that point, you might 120 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: expect legislators to just move on and pick a different song, 121 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: but instead, they kept the melody of Ocenandoah and commissioned 122 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: a new set of lyrics explicitly about Virginia. Other songs 123 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: continued to be considered, and the final decision wasn't made 124 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: until twenty fift That's when Virginia decided to split the 125 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: difference by designating two official state songs. The reworked version 126 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: of Oceanandoah, now titled Our Great Virginia, was named the 127 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: official traditional song of Virginia, despite the act that it 128 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: was newly written and therefore not traditional. The other selection 129 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: was a track by Robin Thompson and Steve Bassett called 130 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: Sweet Virginia Breeze. It was designated the official popular song 131 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: of Virginia. As you can tell, it's been a long, strange, 132 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: racist trip for Virginia states song, and several other states 133 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: have similar stories. At this point, New Jersey is the 134 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: one and only state to have never adopted an official song. 135 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: And I'm beginning to understand why I'm gay, bluesier And 136 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 137 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. You can learn even more about 138 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at 139 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: t d i HC Show, and if you have any 140 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way 141 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,439 Speaker 1: by writing to this day at iHeart media dot com. 142 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: Thanks a always to Channel or Knee for producing the show, 143 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 144 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: here again soon for another Day in History. Class m