May 28, 1935: Old Folks at Home adopted as state song
It was a Miami legislator, S.P. Robineau, who sponsored "Old Folks At Home" as Florida's state song in 1935, and a Jacksonville senator, Tony Hill, who campaigned to have it replaced in 2008.
Better known as "Way Down Upon the Swanee River," the song had been controversial for decades because Foster wrote it in 1851 in the voice of a slave fondly recalling Southern plantation life, with such lyrics as "de banjo strumming," and "Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary." |
The lyrics created controversy back in 1957, when several Southern congressmen pressured the major networks to stop revising "Old Folks" and other Stephen Foster songs for broadcast. Florida's Rep. Charles Bennett declared, "These songs written by Stephen Foster were written in different days and Negroes today have no reason to take offense at their lyrics."
Yet "Old Folks" has continued to offend and over the years sparked several unsuccessful legislative bills to replace it.
In 2008, Sen. Tony Hill was on the verge of losing yet another such effort when Sen. Jim King came up with a compromise: The offensive words would be dropped and revised lyrics would be submitted as the state song. Meanwhile, a newer song by a Broward County schoolteacher, "Florida, Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky," would become the "state anthem."
Stephen Foster, incidentally, never stepped foot in Florida during his short life and chose the name of the Suwannee River (shortened to two sylables) only because it sounded better.
Yet "Old Folks" has continued to offend and over the years sparked several unsuccessful legislative bills to replace it.
In 2008, Sen. Tony Hill was on the verge of losing yet another such effort when Sen. Jim King came up with a compromise: The offensive words would be dropped and revised lyrics would be submitted as the state song. Meanwhile, a newer song by a Broward County schoolteacher, "Florida, Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky," would become the "state anthem."
Stephen Foster, incidentally, never stepped foot in Florida during his short life and chose the name of the Suwannee River (shortened to two sylables) only because it sounded better.