Oh Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny, 1859

Oh Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny, 1859. Tobacco package label showing African-American banjo player, woman, and three children in cabin. The pre-Civil War tobacco industry was dominated by Southern manufacturers determined to preserve slavery and present a sentimental image of black life in the South. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny is a song which was written by James A. Bland (1854 - 1911) an African-American minstrel who wrote over 700 folk songs. It is was an adaption of a traditional song popular since the 1840's and frequently sung by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Bland's version, the most well known, was adapted in 1878 when many of the newly freed slaves were struggling to find work. The song has become controversial in modern times

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

African American Controversial Negro Preserve Racist Sentimental Slaves

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