![]() Whenever I hear the music now, the antique voice laughing about niggers and watermelon fills my head," Johnson wrote. ![]() " When the reach of racism robs me of fond memories from my childhood, it feels intensely personal again. The song's melody, it turns out, was popularized in antebellum minstrel shows where the lyrics "parodied a free black man attempting to conform to white high society by dressing in fine clothes and using big words." To make matters worse, that song became the basis for an offensive folk song in 1916 titled, "Nigger Love A Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!" before turning into the melody that beckons ice cream seekers today.įor Theodore Johnson III, who wrote the article, knowledge of that history ruined ice cream trucks for him. There is some offensive language below.Ī little over a week ago, NPR had an illuminating and poignant report on the the racist beginnings of the ice cream truck song. Warning: We are talking about racism in this article.
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