In these times of heated partisanship this paper tries to be an oasis of unity around a shared musical interest. It’s with some hesitation I even start this story but I will proceed because it presents as good an opportunity as may come to discuss the legacy of Stephen Collins Foster, the “Father of American Music.”
On April 26 a statue of Foster was removed from its position opposite the Stephen Collins Foster Memorial Museum and Theater in Pittsburgh where it had stood since 1944. Originally erected in 1900 it was moved there from an original location after repeated vandalism. The statue in bronze was created by famous Italian-American sculptor Giuseppe Moretti. It depicts an elderly black slave strumming a banjo as Foster, seated above him, writes lyrics on parchment. The imagery of a barefoot and happy slave at a white man’s feet has been a point of conflict in the city since the civil rights era. It may have even triggered the vandalism that caused the statue to be moved to a more public location so many decades ago.
In 2000 there was a petition to remove the statue and an alternative was proposed of adding an explanatory placard to the monument giving it more context. But nothing was done then, or in 2010 when the issue was raised during a restoration of the monument. At th
