Don’t Push Me, Coon

                                                         A Darky Song

O, I does lub a little yaller gal,

     She’s de idol of ma heart;

She’s know’n ole Virginny as de high bo’n Sal,

     But a trash coon he hol’s us a-part.

Dat nig done stole a yaller suit of clo’es,

     An’ he went foh ter see ma gal;

An’ we’n she see ma comin’ she tu’n’d up her nose,

     Did ma ole Virginny high bo’n Sal.

               Spoken:

   (But I waited outside an’ I says)

     Don’t yo’ try ter push me, coon,

     I’se a-gwine ter leave yere soon;

Dar’ll be er crime committed, dar’ll be er coff’n fitted,

     If yo’ try ter push ma coon;

     Don’t yo’ try ter push ma coon,

     ‘Less yo’ wants er funeral soon;

Dar’ll be a missin’ nigger, else I don’t cut any figger,

     If yo’ tries ter push ma, coon.

                   II.

Las’ night I went ter see her yas I did,

     I met her were de jasmine grows;

An’ I tol’ her dat de white man was dead

     Wot had once own’ dat suit of clo’es.

My! But yo’ orter see her eyes snap den,

     She was scat, was ma little yaller gal;

An’ w’en dat coon he come roun ergan

     He was fired by ma ole Virginny Sal.

                Spoken:

   (An’ w’en I shoved him out de do’ I says)

    

May 30, ‘97

Pub. in Boston Courier,

 Sep. 19, 1897

NOTE – I’ve left what are often inappropriate or racial terms and descriptions as written. This is an especially egregious example. They are rare, and probably weren’t seen as objectionable within even New England society at the time. More importantly, they exist, and editing them out would be dishonest. Things were what they were. Still, including them, as I have done, remains awkward for obvious reasons, including personal taste and the harmfulness of their use. Hopefully, doing so will at least present an accurate picture of how ingrained some prejudices, or at least callousness to them, still were at the time, even among some of the more progressive people of the era.