My Old Kentucky Home: The racist history behind the Kentucky Derby's opening song with historian Emily Bingham

Emily Bingham, a historian and Louisville-native, has spent years examining the troubling history of this iconic American melody, the Kentucky's State Anthem, "My Old Kentucky Home." She provides an analysis and an historical context for the song's lyrics, and given it's problematic association with mistral shows, she addresses the question of how to move forward while learning from the country's painful legacy of slavery.

#KentuckyDerby #MyOldKentuckyHome

Episode Resources

Book: MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME: THE ASTONISHING LIFE AND RECKONING OF AN ICONIC AMERICAN SONG 

Original Lyrics: My Old Kentucky Home Lyrics

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Bingham is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. She is the author of the prizewinning biography, Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham, and a multigenerational family saga, Mordecai: An Early American Family. She currently serves as Visiting Honors Faculty Fellow at Bellarmine University.

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