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April 1861
Printed Matter
Frank Dumont #3054 Box. 3
Several notable songs from Minstrel shows: “Bonny Eloise,” “Virginia Rosebuds” “Bonny Jean,” and “Lilly Dear.” These songs were meant to represent blacks as inferior or unintelligent. However, Benjamin Hanby’s “Nelly Gray” was written from the perspective of an African American male slave in Kentucky. His lover was taken away by slave-owners, and he is devastated because she had been sold to Georgia. He eventually dies and joins her in heaven. The song lyrics summarize one way slavery was cruel and inhumane.