12 Childhood Nursery Rhymes You Didn’t Realize Were Racist

By Olivia | Published on August 20, 2015 | Updated on February 1, 2019 9:59 AM EST

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‘Jimmy Crack Corn’

This particular nursery rhyme, also known as Blue Tail Fly, was originally written in 1846 and is about a slave whose master has passed away. In the tune, the slave is conveying that he can now drink as much corn whiskey as he desires. He comes off as uneducated, unmotivated and inferior. The first lyrics are as follows:

When I was young I us’d to wait
On Massa and hand him de plate;
Pass down de bottle when he git dry,
And bresh away de blue tail fly.
Jim crack corn I don’t care,
Jim crack corn I don’t care,
Jim crack corn I don’t care,
Ole Massa gone away.

‘Camptown Races’

Much like Oh! Susanna, this tune was a minstrel song written by Stephen Foster. The song is another attempt at ridiculing Black people and portraying them as mentally inferior. In fact, an article released by The Motherish confirms that the song “makes fun of black speech and purposely tried to make the lyrics sound uneducated.” A few of opening lyrics are as follows:

Camptown ladies sing this song, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
Camptown race-track five miles long, Oh, doo-dah day!
I come down there with my hat caved in, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
I go back home with a pocket full of tin, Oh, doo-dah day!

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