Elementary Music Educators’ Use of Folk Songs With Racist Origins and Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this survey study was to investigate the self-reported practices of P–6 elementary general music teachers (N = 275) regarding their experiences with American folk songs with racist origins. A secondary purpose was to examine P–6 elementary general music teachers’ familiarity with and incorporation of anti-racist pedagogical practices into their teaching. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Out of 19 folk songs with racist origins, “Jingle Bells” was the song most participants (67.6%) continued to teach and was the only song that 50% or more participants continued to teach. I categorized participants’ responses regarding why they discontinued teaching the 19 songs as follows: (a) racism/minstrelsy and (b) origins/history. Additionally, participants’ American folk songs with racist origins were categorized under teaching and planning. Musical enjoyment/utility and teaching about racism/minstrelsy were subcategories for teaching, while removing/replacing and learning through researching were subcategories for planning. Regarding anti-racist pedagogical practices, 76.6% of participants agreed that teachers should teach songs that represent various races and ethnicities in respectful ways even if they disagreed that teachers should use folk songs to challenge race, privilege, equity, and racial/ethnic injustices. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Keywords

elementary music anti-racism anti-racist pedagogical practices American folk songs

Introduction

Folk songs have played a substantial role in American music education from the 1900s to present times, particularly in elementary general music settings (Gustafson, 2009; Volk, 1994, 1998). Studies of the history of American folk songs within and beyond music education suggest that the songs were mainly reflective of white, Anglo-American narratives (Gustafson, 2009; McCarthy, 1995; Volk, 1994, 1998).¹ Conversely, Native American and African American folk songs in song books and curriculum materials were described as “primitive” and deemed inferior to Northern European music (Gustafson, 2009; Volk, 1994, 1998).

Scholars have also identified American folk songs with roots in racism and minstrelsy (Gustafson, 2009; Hall, 2000; Hess, 2021; Howard, 2020; Kelly-McHale, 2018). Yet, in her book Race and Curriculum: Music Childhood Education, Gustafson (2009) discussed that the racist underpinnings of folk songs have largely gone unnoticed in systematic research. Although there are resources that indicate the origins of specific folk songs, such as Songs With a Questionable Past (McDougle, 2021), and announcements from elementary music curriculum authors suggesting teachers discontinue teaching certain songs (e.g., GAMEPLAN and Quaver), there has been no systematic research on how or whether teachers utilize these resources. Thus, studies focused on elementary music teachers’ use of American folk songs with racist origins and their pedagogical purposes are warranted.

Role of Texts in Promoting or Challenging Racist Ideals

Research in elementary education reveals that children’s literature has often been used as a means for discussing racism in the elementary classroom (Bolgatz, 2005; Hollingworth, 2009; Silva, 2012; Zoch, 2017). In Zoch’s (2017) study, third- and fourth-grade elementary teachers in urban settings educated students about historical inequities with a particular emphasis on racial justice texts, and Silva (2012) found that ethnographic research in a first-grade classroom demonstrated that students were acutely aware of discrimination when their curricula were centered on cultural, racial, and gender diversity. Children’s literature has often been used to decenter whiteness in elementary classrooms (Allen, 1997; McCormack, 2020). Allen (1997) utilized literature as a means for his students to examine who is represented in storybooks, who remains in the background, and which races are disingenuously portrayed with negative stereotypes, while McCormack (2020) used the book Grandpa, Is Everything Black Bad? (Holman, as cited in McCormack, 2020) to teach her students how being Black is often coupled with negative connotations. Yet, while discussions of racism through literature have often led to productive outcomes (Allen, 1997; Bolgatz, 2005; McCormack, 2020; Silva, 2012; Zoch, 2017), Hollingworth (2009) described the way an individual teacher’s unconscious ideology about race impeded progress toward racial discourse. She expressed that the teacher’s conception of racial tolerance was the result of what she described to be a “colorblind ideology,” otherwise understood as “a tendency for White people to ignore color differences and the privileges they enjoy as a result of their membership in the dominant culture” (p. 35). In other words, the teacher’s choice to not discuss race with her students was a by-product of privilege.

While there is a need to develop practices related to how teacher educators prepare future teachers to engage in conversations about racism (Hollingworth, 2009), research has revealed that in-service teachers (Berman et al., 2017; Castagno, 2009) and preservice teachers (Buchanan, 2015; Martell, 2016) often refrain from participating in race-related discussions. For instance, Martell (2016) reported that preservice teachers demonstrated propensities toward ignoring race-related conversations and discussing race in power-evasive ways. Similarly, Buchanan (2015) found that preservice teachers who were given the opportunity to discuss and identify issues pertaining to race felt that discussing it with their future students would be “controversial, problematic, uncomfortable, and potentially offensive” (p. 11).

Confronting Racism Through Music Education

Salvador and Kelly-McHale (2017) indicated that music teacher educators often do not incorporate social justice topics in their instruction. Of their predominantly white sample (N = 356), 65% of respondents indicated that they did not have time to cover topics related to social justice, 29% reported that they lacked the appropriate knowledge, 29% responded with “nothing,” 10% expressed a lack of interest or did not believe it was part of their job, and 5% shared concerns about tenure (p. 14).

In addition to focusing on social justice at large, scholars have also researched culturally responsive teaching as it pertains to racism (Howard, 2018; Kelly-McHale, 2013; Kindall-Smith et al., 2011). In a collective case study related to students’ perception of American folk songs, Kelly-McHale (2013) collected data on four fifth-grade students who were second-generation students and English-language learners. She identified the absence of culturally responsive teaching due in part to the sequential learning of folk songs within the Kodály curriculum. She also noted that “the body of American folk music that has become standard repertoire within elementary music classrooms is narrowly reflective of society as a whole, both from an ethnic/racial perspective” (Kelly-McHale, 2018, p. 61).

In a related elementary general music study, Howard (2018) investigated how fifth-grade students used multicultural music over a 13-week period in their general music classes to examine race-related issues. When engaging with Africa–African diaspora music, students voiced their opinions related to racial justice, challenged racism, and “found [ways] to give voice to their thoughts about the justice (or lack thereof) they were discovering in connection to the musical cultures” (p. 273). While individuals may assume that elementary students are too young to participate in race-related discussions, Howard’s study conveys that students are capable of interrogating and challenging racism through musical experiences.

In addition to the use of culturally responsive teaching as it relates to racism (Howard, 2018; Kelly-McHale, 2013, 2018), Hess (2014) explored anti-oppressive teaching and a radical music education. In her collective case study, she used an anti-oppressive framework to examine the discourses and practices of four elementary teachers who taught about race and social justice. She concluded that in a radical music education, students are not only able to encounter anti-racist issues but are also capable of engaging with related topics on multiple, in-depth levels.

Hall (2000), an educational policy and leadership professor, completed a content analysis on the Silver Burdett series to shed light on the portrayal of race between 1930 and 1995. Consistent with earlier editions, the 1995 version still included songs from the minstrel tradition. Considering that the Silver Burdett series has been a commonly used source in elementary general music (Ward, 2003) and that some of these songs are published in other elementary music curricula (e.g., GAMEPLAN and Quaver), the current use of songs outlined within and beyond Hall’s analysis warrant further investigation. Systematic research about the use of American folk songs with racist origins is absent in music education literature.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-reported practices of P–6 elementary general music teachers regarding their experiences with folk songs with racist origins. A secondary purpose was to examine P–6 elementary general music teachers’ familiarity with and incorporation of anti-racist pedagogical practices into their teaching. Conceptually, anti-racist pedagogy is defined as teaching that draws on critical theory “to explain and counteract the persistence and impact of racism” and uses “praxis as its focus to promote social justice for the creation of a democratic society in every respect” (Blakeney, 2005, p. 119). The following questions guided this study: (1) What American folk songs with racist origins are currently utilized in elementary general music classrooms? (2) Why, if at all, do elementary general music teachers discontinue teaching racist folk songs, and what experiences do they report with such songs in their curricula? and (3) How familiar are elementary general music teachers with anti-racist pedagogical practices, and to what extent do they enact them?

Methodology

Participants

The sampling frame for this study consisted of 6,470 members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) who identified as elementary general music teachers. In addition, members of the American Orff Schulwerk Discussion Group (N = 11,400) and Kodály Educators (N = 8,500) Facebook pages were asked to complete the questionnaire. A total of 330 participants responded to the online questionnaire. Data from participants who did not complete the first main section of the questionnaire (n = 55) were removed, leaving 275 (83%) responses for analysis.

Respondents (n = 269) specified that they taught elementary music for the following number of years: 1 to 3 years (7.4%), 4 to 6 years (13%), 7 to 10 years (17.9%), 11 to 20 years (28.6%), and 20+ years (33.1%). Two hundred sixty-nine respondents had an undergraduate degree (29%), 174 respondents (64.7%) had a master’s degree, and 17 respondents (6.3%) had a doctoral degree. The mean age of respondents was 44.12 years (SD = 12.14; range = 22–72).

Participants had the option to self-report the gender with which they identified. Respondents (n = 259) who answered this question reported that they identified as female (79.9%) or male (19.3%); only .7% of responses could not be categorized due to one illegible response and one participant who claimed, “What I was born as.” A majority of respondents (n = 268) identified themselves as white/Caucasian (88.9%), while the remainder of respondents indicated: I prefer not to answer (5.2%), mixed race (1.8%), Hispanic/Latinx (1.5%), American Indian/Native American (.4%), and Asian (.4%). In the open-ended response for race, a minority of respondents (1.8%) identified as the following: Australian (.6%), Armenian (.4%), Campur (Mixed Indonesian and white; (.4%), and Polish American (.4%).

Respondents indicated their school’s urbanicity, student demographics, and Title I status. With respect to urbanicity, respondents (n = 269) indicated the following: central city (14.9%), urban fringe/large town (53.5%), and small town/rural (31.6%). Respondents (n = 268) also reported to the following regarding what best described the race/ethnicity of the student population at their schools: white (68%), Hispanic/Latinx (11.2%), other (8.2%), Black/African American (6.7%,), mixed race (3.3%), American Indian/Native American (1.5%), and Asian (1.1%). In addition, 268 respondents (97.4%) reported their school’s Title I status. One hundred fifty-three respondents (55.6%) indicated that their school was a Title I school, whereas 115 respondents (41.8%) indicated that it was not; remaining responses (2.6%) were illegible.

Measures

The measure I employed was an online questionnaire disseminated through Qualtrics (see Appendix SA in the supplemental document included with the online version of this article). Participants were asked to answer questions regarding their current (i.e., at the time of the questionnaire’s dissemination) and/or previous (i.e., any point prior to the dissemination of the questionnaire) use of 19 American folk songs with racist origins, their experiences with the songs, and the extent to which they engaged with anti-racist pedagogical practices. Participants were informed that their responses would be helpful for identifying the purpose and use of folk songs in the elementary classroom and that their participation was voluntary; prior to completing the questionnaire, however, participants were not informed of the songs’ racist histories.

Part I of the questionnaire included 19 American folk songs that have racist origins, and participants responded to whether they currently or previously taught the songs; if they discontinued teaching them, they responded to the following prompt: “Please explain why you stopped teaching the song.” To determine which songs to include in the questionnaire, I first examined a nationally shared Google document titled Songs With a Questionable Past (McDougle, 2021), a document in which practitioners and scholars continue to compile resources related to songs with derogatory, racist, or violent histories, to identify songs with racist origins. For this study, I only examined songs with racist origins. Because the document is public and anyone can contribute their findings, a primary source literature review was necessary to ensure the historical accuracy of each song. Thus, I relied on scholarly evidence to verify the histories of each song (e.g., The Library of Congress and publications by Lomax & Lomax, 1994). The songs I selected fell under four categories: (a) minstrelsy, (b) racial slurs, (c) minstrelsy and racial slurs, and (d) misrepresentation of Indigenous peoples (see Appendix SB in the supplemental document included with the online version of this article).

Part II of the questionnaire inquired about demographic information, and Part III of the questionnaire inquired about participants’ familiarity with anti-racist pedagogical practices and other folk songs that they no longer teach (i.e., songs not listed in the questionnaire). A questionnaire on teachers’ positions on anti-racism, developed by Fairfax County Public Schools (2021), served as a model for the wording of questions related to anti-racist pedagogical practices; specifically, questions from this questionnaire were adopted considering that they referenced tenets of anti-racist pedagogical practices without directly defining these practices as anti-racist pedagogy. In other words, I sought to discover whether participants enacted anti-racist pedagogical practices even if they were not aware they were doing so. Additionally, some questions related to anti-racist pedagogical practices were adapted in consideration of Salvador and Kelly-McHale’s (2017) survey regarding music teacher educators’ beliefs surrounding social justice. For example, an item regarding what holds teachers back from teaching social justice was modified from their survey instrument as follows: “What, if anything, is holding you back from teaching about issues related to race, privilege, and equity with your students?”

A version of this questionnaire was pilot tested in May 2021 with elementary music educators (N = 15). This was done to test the face validity of the survey instrument and reveal any issues with its dissemination and administration. In response to participants’ feedback, the following additions were made: a progress bar for respondents to observe progress toward completion and a Likert-type item reading, “My school/district/state specifically discourages or prohibits me from teaching about race, privilege, and equity” in response to the question “What, if anything, is holding you back from teaching about issues related to race, privilege, and equity with your students?”

Procedure

After receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board, a link to the questionnaire was disseminated through NAfME’s automated email system on July 13, 2021. In addition, the questionnaire was posted on the American Orff Schulwerk Discussion Group and the Kodály Educators’ Facebook pages on July 16, 2021, and August 10, 2021. The questionnaire was closed on August 11, 2021, and all responses were analyzed for completeness.

Results

An inductive analysis was used for open-ended responses (Thomas, 2006). The open-ended responses were grouped into three broad categories: (a) purposes for no longer teaching songs, (b) reasons to discontinue and experiences with folk songs with racist origins, and (c) anti-racist pedagogical practices. Responses were initially coded after I reviewed the raw data in relation to the research questions guiding this study. According to Thomas (2006), “The analysis is carried out through multiple readings and interpretations of the raw data . . . the findings arise directly from the analysis of the raw data, not from a priori expectations or models” (p. 239). Accordingly, initial codes were derived after reading the text several times, creating categories illustrative of emerging trends, and revising the categories as needed. Categories into which I organized responses are represented with exemplar quotes, and “segment[s] of text [were] coded into more than one category” (Thomas, 2006, p. 242). In other words, responses from participants could count toward the percentages and frequencies of more than one category.

Research Question 1: American Folk Songs With Racist Origins That Elementary Educators Continue to Teach

Descriptive statistics for questions regarding which of the 19 folk songs teachers continued to teach, previously taught and stopped teaching, or never taught are presented in Table 1. “Jingle Bells” was the song most participants continued to teach (67.6%, n = 186) and was the only song that 50% or more participants continued to teach. Following this, fewer than half of participants continued to teach any of the remaining songs on this list. In addition to “Jingle Bells,” more than 25% of respondents previously taught but stopped teaching the following songs: “Chicken on a Fencepost,” “Land of the Silver Birch,” “Dinah,” “My Paddle (Canoe Song),” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (see Table 1). The song that the fewest number of participants never taught was “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo” (3.3%, n = 9). In addition to “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo,” 75% or more participants never taught “Turkey in the Straw,” “Camptown Races,” “Shorten-in (Shortnin’) Bread,” “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” and “Jimmy Crack Corn.”

Table 1.

Songs Participants Teach, Previously Taught, or Never Taught.

	Do You Currently Teach This Song?		Did You Previously Teach This Song?
Songs	Yes	No	Yes	No
Jingle Bells	67.60%	32.40%	25.80%	6.50%
A-Tisket, A-Tasket	42.50%	57.50%	16.70%	40%
Lil’ Liza Jane	39.30%	60.70%	15.40%	45.50%
Skip to My Lou	37.80%	62.20%	16.70%	45.50%
My Paddle (Canoe Song)	30.20%	69.50%	27.30%	41.80%
Shoo, Fly	28.40%	71.60%	22.20%	49.10%
Land of the Silver Birch	24.70%	75.30%	29.10%	46.20%
Chicken on a Fencepost	24.40%	75.60%	33.10%	42.40%
Jim Along, Josie	20.40%	79.60%	23.30%	56%
Old Dan Tucker	20%	80%	18.90%	61.10%
I’ve Been Working on the Railroad	19.60%	80.40%	25.80%	53.80%
Dinah	16%	84%	27.60%	55.30%
Turkey in the Straw	11.60%	88.40%	11.30%	77.10%
Johnny on the Woodpile	10.90%	89.10%	18.20%	70.90%
Shorten-in (Shortnin’) Bread	9.80%	90.20%	9.80%	80%
Camptown Races	8%	92%	15.40%	75.60%
Pick a Bale of Cotton	5.10%	94.90%	7.60%	86.90%
Jimmy Crack Corn	4%	96%	5.50%	90.20%
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo	3.30%	96.40%	9.10%	86.50%

Research Question 2: Reasons to Discontinue and Experiences With Folk Songs With Racist Origins

Reasons to Discontinue

Inductive analyses of why participants discontinued teaching any of the 19 songs resulted in two thematic categories: (a) racism/minstrelsy and (b) origins/history. Participants’ remarks were categorized as origins/history if they did not mention racism or minstrelsy in their responses but still mentioned that the songs had problematic histories. Of the participants who disclosed why they discontinued teaching any of the 19 songs, 50% or more stated that they stopped teaching the following songs due to their ties to racism and/or minstrelsy: “Jingle Bells” (66%, n = 46), “Chicken on a Fencepost” (60%, n = 54), and “Dinah” (55%, n = 42). Many participants stated that they stopped teaching these songs because of the racist lyrics/subsequent verses. For example, one participant stated the following in relation to “Chicken on a Fencepost”: “I learned more about the racist connotations in this song (the name Josie as a derogatory term for African Americans).” Other respondents directly referenced minstrelsy with remarks such as, “Dinah is a generic name for Black women who were held as slaves. . . . As I feel it is irresponsible to teach a song without its historical context . . . I stopped teaching it.” “Jingle Bells” was the song most participants were reluctant to let go of. For example, one respondent stated: “I’m torn about this one. I didn’t use it this past year, but my students asked for it. I’m still thinking through how to handle this conversation with the use of it in minstrelsy, but [its] broad popularity.”

Responses categorized under origins/history included statements regarding the inappropriate origins and/or history of a song without any reference to racism or minstrelsy. The highest percentages of participants’ responses were in relation to the following songs: “Land of the Silver Birch” (52.5%, n = 42), “Johnny on the Woodpile” (52%, n = 25), and “My Paddle (Canoe Song)” (50%, n = 37). Notably, “Land of the Silver Birch” and “My Paddle (Canoe Song)” yielded responses that were similar in nature. Referencing “Land of the Silver Birch,” one participant stated the following regarding its origins: “I learned that not only is it not a real Native American song, but that Native Americans don’t like that it’s being claimed as one.” Similarly, for “My Paddle (Canoe Song),” one participant asserted, “Canoe song is a camp song but has often been used as a partner song with Land of the Silver Birch. The question comes is [if] the word ‘canoe’ [is] tokenized and also many call this a Native American song which it is not.”

Experiences With Folk Songs

Eighty-five percent of participants (n = 233) responded to a question regarding positive and/or negative experiences with any of the 19 songs listed on the questionnaire, and 62.2% of participants (n = 171) responded to an additional item inquiring about additional experiences they had with one or more of the songs. Through inductive analyses, I categorized participants’ responses about their instructional experiences into the following: (a) teaching and (b) planning.

Teaching

In the teaching category, there were two subcategories that captured participants’ experiences and instructional practices: (a) musical enjoyment/utility and (b) and teaching about racism/minstrelsy. Musical enjoyment/utility was exemplified by responses such as, “From a pedagogical standpoint, the songs I use are engaging and useful to teach very specific rhythmic and melodic concepts, form, and movement” and “I have observed the use of these songs spark joy in my students to sing and play, and make the well-behaved musical example imbedded within the song itself more accessible, and easier to comprehend for all student[s].”

Conversely, one respondent described the utility of folk songs regardless of their racist origins:

The only people who seem to have issues with our history and folk songs are “woke” people who seem to be offended by everything and make a conscious effort to find things that are sensitive and point them out. Elementary students are not the ones who are upset by these songs and they never will be unless adults tell them the history of the song instead of just teaching it for the fun melody and the enjoyment of the music.

Responses categorized under teaching about racism/minstrelsy included remarks about discussions participants held with their students as a way of teaching them about the folk songs’ negative histories, as exemplified by, “I’ve occasionally gone back with my older students and done a lesson on why some of the songs I taught them five years ago before I knew any better are racist . . . it [can tend to] lead to a pretty valuable discussion.” Other participants asserted a need to stop teaching the 19 songs in the questionnaire due to the potentially pernicious effects they can have on students. For instance, one participant stated, “Just because children don’t tell you they are upset about a song doesn’t mean they haven’t been harmed by the teaching of a racist or insensitive song. . . . Some children are not assertive enough to say anything.” An exemplar statement that mentioned both racism and minstrelsy included the following about “Jingle Bells”:

The students reminded me of a previous conversation where we had talked about the song’s connection to minstrelsy, and they pointed out the problematic nature of its inclusion. . . . It was a reminder that my students’ worlds are far bigger than my classroom . . . and it’s better not to include something that might possibly cause a student distress or otherwise perpetuate racist systems.

Planning

In the planning category, two subcategories represented participants’ experiences preparing for instruction and/or designing curricula: (a) removing/replacing and (b) learning through researching. Removing/replacing referred to participants’ choices to remove one or more of the 19 songs in the questionnaire from their curricula. Responses in this subcategory included, “I love most of these songs but feel out of respect to knowing better I needed to find other songs to use”; “My community isn’t aware of the negative history, so it was easy for me to just replace them with others”; and “I cannot continue to use these songs in the music classroom due to their origins. . . . [I can] no longer teach these in good conscience.”

Learning through researching illustrated that participants discontinued teaching one or more of the 19 songs after discovering their racist origins. For example, one participant stated, “When I was made aware of the racist/colonizing background of these songs I stopped using them and searched for songs that covered the same concepts but that were not racist/colonizing.” Some participants also expressed their own motivations for learning and/or researching, with statements such as, “I know in the past I have taught problematic songs without addressing the problems through my own lack of awareness and lack of looking. I’m trying to do better” and “[I started] teaching elementary music in 2011. Too many of these songs I just learned about being problematic in the last couple of years and mostly through my own research and digging.”

More than 86% of participants (n = 239) also responded to an open-ended question about whether they adapted or modified the lyrics to any of the songs in the questionnaire. Of these respondents, 70.7% said no, while 19.6% said yes. In the remaining responses (9.7%), participants did not clearly indicate yes or no (e.g., “I’ve been tempted to, but I feel like changing the lyrics fails to make up for the offensive history” and “I have done research and only teach the verses with no racist content”). Overall, adapting or modifying lyrics was considered to be an inappropriate choice, which was underscored by some of the participants’ statements: “No, I don’t think changing lyrics erases the negative connections to the song itself. It’s a lazy way to continue using the same songs instead of finding new things” and “I am ethically opposed to adapting or modifying lyrics. If a song has racist connotations or is not a song we should be teaching, I believe in not using it. . . . We can even write our own music.”

Research Question 3: Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices

Participants (93.1%, n = 256) expressed varying levels of familiarity when responding to “How familiar are you with anti-racist pedagogy?” More than 36% of respondents (n = 93) were very to extremely familiar, 55% (n = 141) were moderately to slightly familiar, and 8.5% (n = 22) were not familiar at all. However, data showed that participants still enacted anti-racist pedagogical practices even if they were unfamiliar with the pedagogical tenets. For instance, 14.4% (n = 37) of respondents reported that they always discussed the songs’ histories, and 71.5% (n = 183) reported that they very frequently (33.2%) or occasionally (38.3%) engaged in such discussions. The remaining participants (13.9%, n = 36) either rarely (12.8%) or never (1.1%) held these discussions about these topics with their students. Additionally, many respondents (42.4%, n = 108) indicated that they discussed issues pertaining to race, privilege, and equity a few times a week; other respondents indicated that they held these conversations approximately once per month (24.3%, n = 62), while the fewest number of participants (9.4%, n = 24) indicated that they never had these conversations.

With respect to enacting anti-racist pedagogical practices, more than 93% of respondents (n = 256) reported agreeing that elementary music educators should teach songs that represent various races and ethnicities respectfully, and over three fourths of these participants (76.6%, n = 191) strongly agreed. Although a majority of respondents were inclined to teach a greater range of songs in respectful ways, responses related to providing students with opportunities to recognize racial and/or ethnic injustices by using folk songs with racist origins as well as challenging issues of race, privilege, and equity varied considerably. More than 70% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the need to enact the listed anti-racist practices, while the remaining respondents either somewhat disagreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed (see Table 2).

Table 2

Likert-Scale Responses of Teacher’s Attitudes Toward Anti-Racist Practices.

To What Extent Do You Agree/Disagree With the Following?	Strongly Agree	Agree	Somewhat Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Elementary music educators should teach songs that represent various races and ethnicities in respectful ways and without stereotypes (n = 256)	76.6%	22.7%	0.7%	0%	0%
Elementary music educators should provide students with opportunities to recognize racial and ethnic injustices that can be caused by certain folk songs (n = 255)	25.1%	44.8%	21.6%	5.4%	3.1%
Elementary music educators should teach students to challenge issues related to race, privilege, and equity when teaching certain folk songs (n = 253)	29.2%	41.1%	19.4%	7.1%	3.2%

Barriers for Enacting Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices

Ninety-three percent of respondents (n = 255) reported whether there was anything that held them back from teaching about issues related to race, privilege, and equity. Among these respondents, 32.2% (n = 82) indicated “other”; 27.8% (n = 71) indicated nothing; 15.7% (n = 40) indicated lack of time; 12.% (n = 32) indicated lack of knowledge; 8.2% (n = 21) indicated it was not their job; 3.5% (n = 9) indicated that their school, district, and/or state prohibited them from teaching about these issues; and .39% (n = 1) indicated a lack of interest. Of the 82 respondents who indicated “other,” 80 chose to elaborate on their responses.

Age appropriateness was a frequently cited reason for not teaching about race, privilege, and equity. For example, one participant highlighted this perspective: “Some children do not need to have ‘adult [challenges] on them. In the right setting, with the right age of children it can and needs to be discussed.” Other common responses were related to respondents’ fear of pushback or backlash from parents, administration, or communities, and some participants specifically discussed that they feared teaching about race-related issues within the conservative communities in which they lived. As an example, one respondent stated, “Parents and outside organizations have sent death threats and other intimidation to teachers who teach about race, privilege, and equity.” Respondents also reported that they were anxious to teach about these issues due to their fears of making mistakes, which is typified by one participant’s statement: “Because I’m white, I don’t want to get anything wrong.” When referencing their concerns, some participants cited a need for professional development or discussed that they would soon be receiving professional development in this area (e.g., “I believe this is an upcoming district initiative so I imagine my comfort level will increase”).

Respondents also described that they only discussed race, privilege, and equity when the topic came up authentically in the classroom rather than using folk songs with racist origins to explicitly discuss these issues as exemplified by the following: “I prefer the conversation to come naturally, [if] at all. I do not want to push on kids who are not ready to hear and receive the topic.” Other individuals maintained ideological perspectives that held them back from teaching about these issues. Examples of this included, “My classroom is not a platform for social justice. I believe materials should be picked with cultural sensitivity and approached respectfully at all times. It is not my job to brainwash students with a liberal agenda.”

Combatting Racism

Seventy-two percent of respondents (n = 198) shared what they did to combat racism in their classrooms, and 23 of the respondents reported they did not do anything (e.g., “nothing” or “no”). The categories into which I organized responses for this question included (a) a variety of music/materials, (b) discussions about racism, (c) origins/history, and (d) culturally responsive teaching. Many respondents indicated that they incorporated music and materials representative of various races, ethnicities, and cultures, which is characterized by two participants’ comments: “I provide representation of BBIA individual[s] in all areas of instruction. I focus on ‘freedom dreamers,’ the term abolitionist educators use for individuals from all backgrounds who fought for or stood up to racism and injustice” and

The children’s books that I select for use in my classroom show diverse populations, when older children ask to learn certain songs on ukulele or recorder (e.g., the lion sleeps tonight), I provide for them the context of cultural misappropriation, racism, or xenophobic history. (There has never been a time when I have provided this information and the children have continued to want to learn the song on their instruments.)

Discussions as a means for combatting racism was commonly cited as well. Many respondents described conversations they held about racism with their students, as exemplified by the following: “We learn and experience the songs/music/games/dance of Black American culture– which is VAST. . . . My students know racism and oppression firsthand. I want them to know they have a voice and how to use it.” Some respondents discussed that they focused on character traits when engaging in such discussions, such as being kind and caring to all individuals, or reinforcing equality (e.g., “We are all created equal” and “I teach that all people are created equal, and I model that in my classes”). On the other hand, some individuals discussed character traits in relation to religion. For example, a participant represented this point of view when asserting, “I teach at a Christian school so topics of acceptance, love, and equality for all backgrounds is discussed throughout the year.”

Respondents also reported that they discussed the origins/history of songs with students in response to this question, making statements such as, “Teaching songs and about artists who rebelled. Teaching the true history of events that involve music—for example with ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd,’ having an honest conversation about slavery and how people are still oppressed in many ways.” Some respondents also indicated their use of culturally responsive pedagogy to combat racism in their teaching (e.g., “[Using] the concept of Windows & Mirrors in selecting culturally relevant content, questioning hegemonic viewpoints, [and] student-led inquiry”).

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-reported practices of P–6 elementary general music teachers regarding their experiences teaching American folk songs with racist origins. A secondary purpose was to examine P–6 elementary general music teachers’ familiarity with and incorporation of anti-racist pedagogical practices into their teaching. In general, respondents indicated that they did not teach many of the songs in this survey. Additionally, experiences with the 19 songs varied among participants, ranging from their discoveries of the songs’ racist backgrounds to positive experiences for individuals who continued to incorporate them into their curricula.

Folk Songs in the Curriculum

Findings regarding why participants stopped teaching the 19 songs in the questionnaire underscored that they typically did so due to their associations with racism/minstrelsy. While some participants more broadly demonstrated their knowledge of the songs’ racist roots by simply stating they were familiar with lists of songs to discontinue (e.g., GAMEPLAN and Quaver), a greater number of participants stressed the need to abandon racist literature and find new songs that cover similar learning objectives. These participants contrasted Kelly-McHale’s (2013) research on one elementary teacher’s choice to incorporate songs from the American folk song canon that were not culturally appropriate for immigrant students in her classroom. Conversely, participants’ open-ended responses indicated that they were inclined to interrogate racism through the use of their classroom repertoire as a way to meet the cultural needs of their students.

The finding that some elementary educators were unaware of the racist backgrounds of some of the 19 folk songs aligns with Hall’s (2000) earlier report that curricular resources continue to include racist content (e.g., the Silver Burdett series). For example, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Lil’ Liza Jane” still exist in the GAMEPLAN curriculum, yet the authors of the curriculum did not include these songs on the list of songs to discontinue (DeLelles & Kriske, 2019), nor were they mentioned on the QuaverEd list (List of Songs Removed From Quaver library, 2020). Given that some participants shared that they heeded recommendations from each source regarding which songs to stop teaching (e.g., “It was on the Quaver list of songs to discontinue”), it seems plausible that teachers may remain unaware of songs not included on these lists if they exclusively use these curricula. Additionally, participants were more likely to stop teaching songs with overtly racist language (e.g., “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo”) rather than those rooted in minstrelsy whose roots are not identifiable without additional research (e.g., “Lil’ Liza Jane”).

Reasons to Discontinue and Experiences With Folk Songs With Racist Origins

In the open-ended response section, there were two main categories pertaining to why participants stopped teaching the 19 songs in the questionnaire: (a) racism/minstrelsy and (b) origins/history. In relation to the latter, respondents often refrained from explicitly naming racism or minstrelsy, which is consistent with scholarly reports indicating that educators and preservice teachers are often reluctant to discuss racism in a direct way (Berman et al., 2017; Bradley, 2007; Hess, 2014; Martell, 2016). In the current study, participants in the origins/history category used terms such as “politically correct” or “problematic” to describe some of the songs, although they alluded to the racist roots without stating race or racism. This finding invokes Bradley’s (2007) assertions regarding educators’ hesitation to name race in music education settings and Berman et al.’s (2017) caveat regarding how such hesitation might inadvertently “make the notion of racism invisible” (p. 58).

Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices

Regarding what held participants back from teaching about issues related to race, privilege, and equity, these findings posed a contrast to a similar question in Salvador and Kelly-McHale’s (2017) study on music teacher educators’ perceptions of social justice. In the current study, where 15.7% cited lack of time as a factor for teaching about race, privilege, and equity and 12.5% cited lack of knowledge, Salvador and Kelly-McHale reported that 65% of their participants cited lack of time and 29% cited lack of knowledge. It is reasonable to surmise that participants did not perceive time as a barrier due to the contrasting responsibilities between music teacher educators and elementary music educators; for example, participants in Salvador and Kelly-McHale’s study cited increased demands for teacher education at large (i.e., demands related to accreditation). As noted, participants’ responses regarding the 19 songs indicated that they were generally familiar with the songs’ racist histories. Given that all songs appear on Songs With a Questionable Past (McDougle, 2021) and that eight of these songs appeared on lists of songs to discontinue (i.e., GAMEPLAN and Quaver), it appears that these resources have helped participants in developing a greater understanding of the histories of some American folk songs with racist origins.

Incorporating a variety of music/materials and holding open conversations with students to combat racism bears semblance to how elementary educators have used texts/storybooks to discuss anti-racism in the elementary classrooms (Allen, 1997; Bolgatz, 2005; McCormack, 2020; Silva, 2012; Zoch, 2017). Notably, these choices resemble Allen’s (1997) approach to teaching anti-racism through the use of storybooks and reinforce Bolgatz’s (2005) reports of students’ capability to participate in discussions about racism when teachers use literature to initiate such conversations. With respect to music education, participants who valued using American folk song literature to discuss or challenge racial and ethnic injustices reflect Howard (2020) and Kelly-McHale’s (2018) recommendations for holding discussions about songs’ histories rather than ignoring them and support Howard’s (2018) findings regarding the exploration of music as a means for engaging students in discussions about racism. In open-ended responses related to anti-racist pedagogical practices, many respondents made it clear that they prioritized instruction that allows for students to recognize and understand systemic injustices, racism, and appropriation. This finding is in line with Hess’s (2014) notion of a radical music education, given that participants in the current study likewise demonstrated that “students [are] able to comprehend how oppression, history, and sociopolitical factors affect culture and music” (Hess, 2014, p. 246).

Respondents’ comments about reinforcing equality as a way to combat racism are characteristic of Hollingworth (2009) and Martell’s (2016) assertions regarding tolerance-oriented teachers; consistent with their findings, some participants in the current study avoided or diminished race by only describing “equality” (i.e., the idea that all individuals are equal) in response to questions that directly inquired about racism. Additionally, some respondents discussed building character traits through religion to combat racism, which resembles Gurrentz’s (2014) research on “color-blindness” and religion: “Equating color-blindness with Christian values of unconditional acceptance masks the realities of race and racism that affect all aspects of society” (p. 261).

Participants who cited age appropriateness as an obstacle for discussing racism is consistent with research findings in which teachers have expressed similar concerns (Buchanan, 2015; Hollingworth, 2009; Martell, 2016). However, elementary education researchers (Allen, 1997; Bolgatz, 2005; McCormack, 2020; Silva, 2012; Zoch, 2017) and music education scholars (Hess, 2014; Howard, 2018; Kelly-McHale, 2013) have suggested that students in elementary school are more than capable of addressing racism and enacting anti-racist practices. As some participants expressed, professional development regarding how to hold such conversations with students of varying ages (i.e., pre-k–fifth grade) would be useful for elementary teachers who avoid the topic due to age, although this would be contingent on the professional development offerings in one’s community. However, it could be the case that holding discussions about racism is not always possible in our current political climate. For instance, statements from participants who feared pushback from parents, school administrations, or their conservative communities parallel the findings in Martell’s (2016) study in which a student “expressed concern that the parents in her school’s community, a predominately White and affluent district, might not support her teaching a subject that could be considered controversial” (p. 81). In contrast, some participants went into great depth about the extent to which they combatted racism with their students, suggesting that their schools and school districts permitted such conversations. As such, it appears that the values of one’s community might hold an influence over whether teachers feel they can combat racism, even if those values differ from those of the individual teacher.

Limitations and Summary

This survey had several limitations. While 275 participants completed the questionnaire, it is difficult to ascertain the response rate considering that it was accessible to individuals through multiple platforms (e.g., NAfME and the American Orff Schulwerk Association Discussion Group), and participants may have also been members of two or more of these groups. In light of this, it could be assumed that the participants were not fully representative of elementary general music teachers in the United States. The participants’ racial diversity in this study was nearly identical to the participants in Elpus’s (2015) study of preservice teachers preparing to enter the workforce; however, 68% of the respondents described their school populations as predominately white, although 45.8% of students in K–12 schools nationwide were comprised of white students in the fall of 2020 (Digest of Education Statistics, 2021). To avoid this misunderstanding in future studies, researchers might consider directly contacting organizations with a social media presence (e.g., Facebook) to see if those organizations would be interested in disseminating a given questionnaire, which could be helpful for calculating a more precise response rate and, perhaps, yield a sample that is more representative of the population under investigation.

The questionnaire did not include items about geographic location, and thus certain areas of the country may have been disproportionately overrepresented or underrepresented. Additionally, there may have been a degree of self-selection bias regarding who completed the questionnaire; individuals who felt uncomfortable discussing racism or unknowledgeable about the topic may have stopped participating upon seeing the questions related to anti-racist pedagogical practices, while those interested in or knowledgeable about the topic may have continued to participate.

Overall, participants expressed familiarity with American folk songs with racist origins, based on individual research and lists of songs to discontinue, but practicing teachers could also benefit from resources and recommendations from national music education experts. It would be beneficial if NAfME created a database that included folk songs with racist origins and the primary sources used to identify those origins. Additionally, future research on teachers’ use of folk songs with racist origins and anti-racist pedagogical practices could be extended with an exploration of elementary music teachers’ professional training, their subscriptions to certain curricula, and whether personal biases prevent them from abandoning repertoire based on these associations.

It should be noted that open-ended responses in Part I of the questionnaire (i.e., “Please describe why you stopped teaching the song”) generally elicited short responses compared to other open-ended questions in latter part of the survey instrument; thus, it would be helpful in future research to conduct interviews with participants regarding why they discontinue teaching songs with racist origins to glean a more nuanced understanding of participants’ positions on how they construct their curricula. It should also be noted that nearly 90% of participants in this study were white. In consideration of participants who did not name racism when responding to why they discontinued teaching songs and those who discussed admirable character traits or equality without implicating issues caused by racism, future research would need to explicitly examine white people’s comfortability with terms such as racism and race in order to accurately capture participants’ intentions. Haviland’s (2008) study on white education discourse among middle school teachers and preservice teachers could serve as a model for such research in music education.

Considering that all students in elementary school are required to attend music classes, these classes should be spaces in which students feel safe, valued, and respected. American folk songs with racist origins rob Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian American/Pacific Islander (BBIA) students from positive experiences that their white counterparts might otherwise enjoy. To this end, Hess asserted:

When we directly name the systemic issues operating at all levels of music education, we can work to address the issues in a manner that recognizes historical injustices, attempting to redress them in the present in a way that is meaningful to each community that participates in music education. (p. 36)

In light of Hess’s assertion, I conclude with a remark from one participant, a concrete goal toward which many participants in the current study aspired: “I want to be a part of the solution rather than the canon!”

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-jrm-10.1177_00224294231172983 – Supplemental material for Elementary Music Educators’ Use of Folk Songs With Racist Origins and Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jrm-10.1177_00224294231172983 for Elementary Music Educators’ Use of Folk Songs With Racist Origins and Anti-Racist Pedagogical Practices by Ian Cicco in Journal of Research in Music Education

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Ian Cicco

Supplemental Material

Appendix SA and SB are available in the online version of the article at .

1

Both “white” and “whiteness” will not be capitalized throughout the duration of this article except for quoted material in which the terms are capitalized by the authors. This choice was made because the capitalization of each term has been associated with white supremacy. More information can be found at .

Author Biography

Ian Cicco is assistant professor of music education at The University of Southern Mississippi. His research interests include critical examinations of elementary music curricula and pedagogical approaches and anti-racist pedagogical practices in music education.

References

Allen

A. M. A.

(1997). Creating space for discussions about social justice and equity in an elementary classroom. Language Arts, 74(7), 518–524. https://www-jstor-org-443.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/41482908

Berman

Daniel

B.-J.

Butler

MacNevin

Royer

(2017). Nothing, or almost nothing to report: Early childhood educators and discursive constructions of colorblindness. International Critical Childhood Policy Studies, 6(1), 52–65. https://journals.sfu.ca/iccps/index.php/childhoods/article/view/45

Blakeney

A. M.

(2005). Antiracist pedagogy: Definition, theory, purpose, and professional development. Journal of Curriculum & Pedagogy, 2(1), 119–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2005.10411532

Bolgatz

(2005). Revolutionary talk: Elementary teacher and students discuss race in a social studies class. The Social Studies, 96(6), 259–264. https://doi.org/10.3200/TSSS.96.6.259-264

Bradley

(2007). The sounds of silence: Talking race in music education. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 6(4), 132–162. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Bradley6_4.pdf

Buchanan

L. B.

(2015). “We make it controversial”: Elementary preservice teachers’ beliefs about race. Teacher Education Quarterly, 42(1), 3–26. https://www-jstor-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/teaceducquar.42.1.3

Castagno

A. E.

(2009). Commonsense understandings of equality and social change: A critical race theory analysis of liberalism at Spruce Middle School. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(6), 755–768. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390903333905

Digest of Education Statistics, 2021. (2021). Nces.ed.gov. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_203.70.asp

DeLelles

Kriske

(2019). GAMEPLAN official statement. https://www.westmusic.com/content/files/images2/resources/pdfs/GAMEPLAN%20Official%20statement.pdf

10.

Elpus

(2015). Music teacher licensure candidates in the United States:A demographic profile and analysis of licensure examination scores. Journal of Research in Music Education, 63(3), 314–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429415602470

11.

Fairfax County Public Schools. (2021). Anti-racism, anti-bias curriculum policy survey. https://www.fcps.edu/node/43411

12.

Gurrentz

B. T.

(2014). God is “color-blind”: The problem of race in a diverse Christian fraternity. Critical Research on Religion, 2(3), 246–264. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303214552572

13.

Gustafson

R. I.

(2009). Race and curriculum: Music in childhood education. Palgrave Macmillan.

14.

Hall

(2000). Singing off key. Urban Education, 35(2), 221–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085900352006

15.

Hess

(2017). Equity and music education: Euphemisms, terminal naivety, and whiteness. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 16(3), 15–47. https://doi.org/10.22176/act16.3.15

16.

Hess

(2021). Becoming an anti-racist music educator: Resisting whiteness in music education. Music Educators Journal, 107(4), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/00274321211004695

17.

Haviland

V. S.

(2008). “Things get glossed over”: Rearticulating the silencing power of Whiteness in education. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(1), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487107

18.

Howard

(2018). The emergence of children’s multicultural sensitivity: An elementary school music culture project. Journal of Research in Music Education, 66(3), 261–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429418784594

19.

Hollingworth

(2009). Complicated conversations: Exploring race and ideology in an elementary classroom. Urban Education, 44(1), 30–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085907312496

20.

Howard

(2020). Equity in music education: Cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation—Understanding the difference. Music Educators Journal, 106(3), 68–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432119892926

21.

Kelly-McHale

(2013). The influence of music teacher beliefs and practices on the expression of musical identity in an elementary general music classroom. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61(2), 195–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429413485439

22.

Kelly-McHale

(2018). Equity in music education: Exclusionary practices in music education. Music Educators Journal, 104(3), 60–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432117744755

23.

Kindall-Smith

McKoy

Mills

(2011). Challenging exclusionary paradigms in the traditional musical canon: Implications for music education practice. International Journal of Music Education, 29(4), 374–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761411421075

24.

List of songs removed from Quaver library . (2020). QuaverEd. https://www.quavered.com/list-of-songs-removed-from-quaver-library/

25.

Lomax

J. A.

Lomax

(1994). American ballads and folk songs. Dover Publications.

26.

Martell

C. C.

(2016). Approaches to teaching race in elementary social studies: A case study of preservice teachers. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 41(1), 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2016.05.001

27.

McCarthy

(1995). On “American music for American children”: The contribution of Charles L. Seeger. Journal of Research in Music Education, 43(4), 270–287. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345727

28.

McCormack

(2020). Backpack of whiteness: Releasing the weight to free myself and my students. Urban Education, 55(6), 937–962. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085919892035

29.

McDougle

(2021). Songs with a questionable past. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q1jVGqOgKxfiUZ8N3oz0warXefGIJill2Xha-3X5nUY/edit#bookmark=id.tt77aa19uddc

30.

Salvador

Kelly-McHale

(2017). Music teacher educator perspectives on social justice. Journal of Research in Music Education, 65(1), 6–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429417690340

31.

Silva

J. M.

(2012). Critical classrooms: Using artists’ lives to teach young students social groups, power, and privilege. Urban Education, 47(4), 776–800. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912441187

32.

Thomas

D. R.

(2006). A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27(2), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214005283748

33.

Volk

T. M.

(1994). Folk musics and increasing diversity in American music education: 1900-1916. Journal of Research in Music Education, 42(4), 285–305. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345737

34.

Volk

T. M.

(1998). Music, education, and multiculturalism: Foundations and principles. Oxford University Press.

35.

Ward

M. J.

(2003). The extent to which American children’s folk songs are taught by general music teachers throughout the United States (Publication No. 3095116) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

36.

Zoch

(2017). “It’s important for them to know who they are”: Teachers’ efforts to sustain students’ cultural competence in an age of high-stakes testing. Urban Education, 52(5), 610–636. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085915618716

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.04 MB