Kentucky's State Song: My Old Kentucky Home - Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

My Old Kentucky Home" was written and set to music by Stephen Collins Foster in 1850 and published in 1853 by Firth, Pound, and Company, New York. It was designated the state song of Kentucky by an act of the legislature (Kentucky Acts, 1928), approved March 19, 1928.

Foster wrote the song after a brief stay at the home of his cousins, the Rowans, in Bardstown, Kentucky.

"Judge Rowan is certainly the master of true Kentucky hospitality."
- Charlotte Foster*

Historians have neither found clear evidence that Foster did visit the mansion, named Federal Hill, nor that he wrote the famous song in its parlor. In some of the family correspondence, references to Foster's taking a steamboat to Louisville is documented, and it is possible that he visited the Rowans in nearby Bardstown while in the area. However, there is evidence that Foster's sister Charlotte was a frequent visitor to the estate. In fact, Charlotte finally exiled herself from the mansion to avoid the constant advances of Judge John Rowan's eldest son. John, Jr. fell madly in love with Charlotte after her first visit to the estate in 1828. He proposed marriage each time she visited, but Charlotte did not wish to marry because she simply did not love him. If she had accepted, she would have become mistress of Federal Hill.

It is believed that part of Foster's inspiration for the song came from the letters Charlotte sent home to Pennsylvania while staying in Kentucky. The Fosters were a genteel and cultured family, descendents from heroes of the American Revolution. Shortly after her baby brother, Stephen, was born, the family lost its home and money due to bad investments. Charlotte, not wishing to be a burden, began to visit her rich relatives in Kentucky for extended periods of time. Charlotte was fascinated with the sprawling plantations of the Bluegrass region, and often wrote home of the "the most hospitable and friendly people you could wish to see. Indeed, it appears to be the Kentucky character." On her way home via steamboat from one of the visits, Charlotte contracted River Fever, and died at the age of 20. Her unexpected death was hard on the family, especially her mother. Little brother Stephen spent much of his adolescence consoling his mother over his sister's death. Many of the lyrics of Stephen's songs reflect the love of home and family, and a sentamentality that can, too, be found in Charlotte's letters.

"I wish to build up taste...among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order." - Stephen Foster**

Another theory about the song is that Foster wrote it to depict a slave's longing to be reunited with his family after being sold to a sugar cane planter in the Deep South. Originally, the song was titled "Poor Uncle Tom, Good Night," substituting "Poor Uncle Tom" for "my old Kentucky home" in the chorus. However, at the same time another "Uncle Tom" was coming to the forefront. In 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was published. Stowe's novel was written as abolitionist propaganda against the outrageous mistreatment of slaves; the plot taking place in rural Kentucky. The similarities between the novel and the song were very apparent. If the story of the song were to be paraphrased, "hard times come a-knocking at the door" would be the overseer coming to take the slave away from "Poor Uncle Tom," rather than from "the old Kentucky home." Allusions are also made to "a shadow o'er the heart," "sorrow where all was delight" and "the time has come when the darkies have to part." In the final verse, "...The head must bow and the back will have to bend, Wherever the darky may go; A few more days, and the trouble all will end, In the field where the sugar-canes grow."

According to family papers, the Foster family were Democrats and did not favor abolitionism; however, friend and artistic collaborator, Charles Shiras was a central leader of the abolitionist activities in Pennsylvania. Inspired by local appearances by William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, Shiras launched a crusading abolitionist newspaper, and subsequently published a volume of anti-slavery and anti-capitalist verse. He and Stephen wrote at least one song together, and a stage work that was performed but never published and is now lost.

When the song was published in 1853, "My Old Kentucky Home" was selected as an appropriate title, being substituted to remove comparisons to the well-known character of Stowe and also removing it from any connection with the abolitionist movement. Foster began using the term "plantation song" for his new compositions, many of which were gentle and nostalgic in text with music that hinted at Irish or Italian ancestry.

It was also noted that beginning with 'My Old Kentucky Home" and throughout the rest of his career, Foster dropped the use of the "Negro dialect" from his song lyrics. He also instructed white performers of his songs not to mock slaves but to get their audiences to feel compassion through emotion. Foster wanted to reform black-face minstrelsy, then the most pervasive and powerful force in American popular culture.

The maudlin melody first became popular during the Civil War, being sung not only in parlors of ladies left behind but also beside army campfires of both Union and Confederate soldiers. It was not until 1906 that Kentucky, during a "Kentucky Homecoming" festival, used the song as a representative of the state's heritage. The festival brought in over 18,000 people, the largest indoor gathering in Kentucky history. When 1,000 young women dressed in white sang, "the vast majority of the audience were too affected...to give utterance to their feelings...eyes moist from the depths of the delicate sentiment, they sat quiet." (Courier-Journal, 6/14/1906) Afterwards, "My Old Kentucky Home" began to be sung at state ball games, memorials, and festivities.

It was not until 1924 that "My Old Kentucky Home" became associated with Kentucky's main event: the Kentucky Derby. Col. Matt Winn, coordinator of the Derby's 50th anniversary race, promoted the celebration as a national event. During this time, Stephen Foster was very much in the news: the Federal Hill mansion had just been deemed a state shrine, and within the next two years, Kentucky would be celebrating the centennial of Foster's birth. Also, rumors abounded that the Kentucky Legislature was trying to designate "My Old Kentucky Home" as the state's official song. To capitalize on the Foster mystique, Winn chose the song to replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the lead in to the race. Radio broadcast of the historic race, with its sentimental melody, established "My Old Kentucky Home" as a Derby tradition to the nation.

"And this too: the song... Stephen Foster as hand-maiden to the Horse."
- William Faulkner***

For nearly 130 years the song remained unchanged from its original publication. But in March, 1986, a group of Japanese students visiting the Kentucky General Assembly changed the song forever. To pay their respects, the group sang "My Old Kentucky Home." Upon hearing the phrase, " 'Tis summer, the darkies are gay," Representative Carl Hines (Democrat-Louisville), the only black member of the House, was quoted as saying that the lyrics of the rendition "convey connotations of racial discrimination that are not acceptable." Within the week, he sponsored a bill which the House passed, House Resolution 159, which officiated the modern lyrics with the line, " 'Tis summer the people are gay." Hines substantiated the bill, citing that the original lyrics were offensive, showing no respect toward African-Americans.

Stephen Collins Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on July 4th, 1826 - a year noted for not only the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but also the year that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died.

Foster began to compose even before he had completed Athens Academy. At the age of 16, he composed his first published work, "Open Thy Lattice, Love." Foster belonged to a secret club, "The Knights of the S.T. (Square Table)." One of their principal activities was singing, with Stephen acting first as song leader and then composer. Some of his earliest songs--perhaps including "Oh! Susanna"--were composed for the group.

Once he completed schooling, Foster moved to Cincinnati to become a bookkeeper in his brother's merchant firm, Irvin and Foster. It was in Cincinnati that Foster became acquainted with W.C. Peters, who operated a music store in Louisville and a publishing company in Cincinnati. Foster gave manuscript copies of several songs to minstrels, who found them to be quite popular, as well as to friends "with permission nor restriction in publishing them." These same songs, which included "Old Uncle Ned," "Louisiana Belle" as well as "Oh! Susanna" and others all issued under the collective title, "Songs of the Sable Harmonists," were presented to Peters as a gift for publication. (Another version of the story states that Peters gave Foster two $50 bills for the song. Whether he received a cent, their success seems to have more than justified Foster's subsequent leaving of his bookkeeping career.)

The Peters editions of the Foster songs garnered close to $10,000, in spite of the fact that several of the songs found their way, via Foster's friends, to other publishing companies about the same time. While "Old Uncle Ned" and "Louisiana Belle" were popular, it was "Oh! Susanna" which swept the county. It was published in 1848, and was carried cross-country when it became the theme song of the forty-niners panning for gold out west.

Foster's name soon became recognized, and the company of Firth, Pond and Co. signed as his publishers. During the next fifteen years, Foster wrote more than 200 songs. Until he moved to New York in 1860, Foster spent much of his life in Pittsburgh where he worked consistently at his songwriting, keeping a thick sketchbook to draft ideas for song lyrics and melodies. As a professional songwriter of unparalleled skill and technique, he had made it his business to study the various music and poetic styles circulating in the immigrant populations of the new United States.

Foster knew the importance of marketing his "wares" and creating a new trend. This was the day in which minstrel shows were extremely popular. The early blackface minstrels were white performers who mimicked blacks. They colored their faces and used makeup to give the impression of big lips and large eyes. While it was entertainment, the main attraction for white audiences was that it was a declaration of white superiority. Among the most popular of these were the "Christy's Minstrels." Foster and E.P. Christy set up a contract which allowed the group to sing the Foster songs before they were officially published with the fee being $10 or $15 per song with the understanding that the white performers of his songs were not to mock slaves but to get their audiences to feel compassion for them.

Foster's "Hard Times Come Again No More," published in early 1855, was both a reflection of recent events in his personal life and an omen of things to come. He and his wife, Jane, had separated, with Jane taking their daughter back to live with relatives. Both of his parents died. The Civil War was looming on the horizon. As his song output diminished, his debts increased. He attempted writing new patriotic songs to supplement his income, but earlier nostalgic songs found far more favor among soldiers and civilians. During these final years, Foster also wrote a group of Sunday school songs and hymns, such as "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread."

During the last four years of his life, Foster wrote close to 100 songs. While few are scarcely known today, one remains an all-time favorite --"Beautiful Dreamer," written in 1862 and published after his death in 1864.

Foster died January 13, 1864 in the charity ward at Bellvue Hospital, New York from an infection caused by a cut acquired when Foster tripped over and smashed a washbasin. There is also speculation that Foster's alcoholism as well as a bout with tuberculosis caused his death. He is buried in Pennsylvania.

Still curious about Stephen Foster and "My Old Kentucky Home?" Ask a librarian for more information.

Featured below are titles about Stephen Foster and "My Old Kentucky Home" that are available for check out from the Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives. To reserve books from this list, librarians may contact Interlibrary Loan at (502) 564-8300, ext. 327. Members of the general public may request materials by contacting their public library, or check materials out on-site with a KDLA library card.

Foster, Morrison. Biography, Songs and Musical Compositions of Stephen C. Foster. Pittsburgh: Percy F. Smith Printing and Lithographing Company, 1896. Call number: 782.42092 Fost

Foster, Morrison. My Brother Stephen. Indianapolis: Privately Published, 1932. Call number: K B Fost

Historic Bardstown and My Old Kentucky Home. Bardstown: Bardstown Chamber of Commerce, 192?. Call number: K 976.9495 Hist

Hodges, Fletcher. Pittsburgh Composer and His Memorial. Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 1938. Call number: K B Fost

Howard, John Tasker. Stephen Foster, America's Troubador. New York, Tudor Publishing Company, 1935. Call number: K B Fost

Morneweck, Evelyn Foster. Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1944. Call number: 929.2 Morn

Jillson, Willard Rouse. In Memory of Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864. Frankfort: State Journal Co., 1940. Call number: K B Fost

MacGowan, Robert. Significance of Stephen Collins Foster. Indianapolis: MacGowan, 1932. Call number: K B Fost

Music Collections

Emerson, Ken. Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1997. Call number: 782.42164092 Emer

Howard, John Tasker, Deems, Taylor, Ray Lev, and Dorothy Berliner. Treasury of Stephen Foster. New York: Random House, 1946. Call number: 782.420973 Fost

Smith, Sarah Borders. Tribute to Stephen Collins Foster. Ill. Gilbert Milburn. Bardstown: Smith, 1976. Call number: 782.42092 Smit

*Maxwell, Stephen. "The Lady Behind the Song." Back Home in Kentucky, Jan/Feb 1984, pg. 9.

**Haines, Kathryn Miller. "Stephen Collins Foster Biographical Sketch." Center for American Music, 2001. http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/foster.htm

***Crews, Clyde F. "Song of the South." Louisville, v. 40, April 1989, pg. 57.

Original Title (1850) "Poor Uncle Tom, Goodnight"	Original Lyrics (1853) (at time of publication)
Publisher's Title (1853) "My Old Kentucky Home"	Contemporary Lyrics (1986) (revised by House Resolution 159)