{"id":1181259,"date":"2022-01-02T20:34:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T01:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1181259"},"modified":"2022-01-02T20:34:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T01:34:22","slug":"upstate-new-york-elementary-school-cancels-jingle-bells-claiming-it-has-racist-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/upstate-new-york-elementary-school-cancels-jingle-bells-claiming-it-has-racist-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"Upstate New York Elementary School Cancels \u2018Jingle Bells\u2019 Claiming It Has Racist Origins"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fupstate-new-york-elementary-school-cancels-jingle-bells-claiming-it-has-racist-origins%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1181259&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-872112612-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">An upstate New York school district has pulled the&nbsp;classic winter tune \u201cJingle Bells\u201d from the music curriculum at an elementary school over concerns that it may have first been performed in Boston at a minstrel show in which white performers donned blackface.<\/p>\n<p>On December 23, the Rochester Beacon first <a href=\"https:\/\/rochesterbeacon.com\/2021\/12\/23\/jingle-all-the-way-maybe-not\/\">reported<\/a> that the Brighton Central School District nixed&nbsp;James L. Pierpont\u2019s song from the curriculum at&nbsp;Council Rock Primary School. The school\u2019s principal&nbsp;Matt Tappon told the Rochester Beacon via email that it was being replaced with tunes without&nbsp;\u201cthe potential to be controversial or offensive.\u201d Officials with the district, including Tappon, told the outlet that the decision to remove the song was in part based upon a 2017 article authored by&nbsp;Kyna Hamill, Boston University\u2019s Director of Core Curriculum.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cShe found documents showing that the song\u2019s first public performance may have occurred in 1857 at a Boston minstrel show. Minstrelsy was a then-popular form of entertainment in which white actors performed in blackface,\u201d the Rochester Beacon reports.<\/p>\n<p>The Beacon reached out to Hamill, who said she was \u201cshocked\u201d over the district\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI am actually quite shocked the school would remove the song from the repertoire. \u2026 I, in no way, recommended that it stopped being sung by children,\u201d Hamill explained.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span> \u201cMy article tried to tell the story of the first performance of the song, I do not connect this to the popular Christmas tradition of singing the song now,\u201d she continued.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe very fact of (\u201cJingle Bells&#8217;\u201d) popularity has to do (with) the very catchy melody of the song, and not to be only understood in terms of its origins in the minstrel tradition. \u2026 I would say it should very much be sung and enjoyed, and perhaps discussed,\u201d Hamill stated.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The reporter shared Hamill\u2019s statements with the elementary school, which prompted a response from&nbsp;<\/span><span>Allison Rioux, the district\u2019s assistant&nbsp;<\/span><span>superintendent for curriculum and instruction:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cSome suggest that the use of collars on slaves with bells to send an alert that they were running away is connected to the origin of the song Jingle Bells. While we are not taking a stance to whether that is true or not, we do feel strongly that this line of thinking is not in agreement with our district beliefs to value all cultures and experiences of our students.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cFor this reason,\u201d Rioux concluded, \u201calong with the idea that there are hundreds of other 5 note songs, we made the decision to not teach the song directly to all students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Hamill countered stating,&nbsp;<\/span><span>\u201cThe use of bells on enslaved peoples may be true,\u201d but noted that her research did not find a correlation between the song and slaveowners placing bells on slaves to prevent them from running away.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPerhaps finding a well-referenced source for this claim might be in order if that is what (school officials) want to determine as the cause for not singing it,\u201d she added.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>As the story gained media attention and outrage ensued over the removal of the classic holiday tune, the district\u2019s Superintendent&nbsp;<\/span><span>Kevin McGowan<\/span><span>&nbsp;wrote a letter on the matter on December 28, in which he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcsd.org\/site\/default.aspx?PageType=3&amp;DomainID=8&amp;ModuleInstanceID=19574&amp;ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&amp;RenderLoc=0&amp;FlexDataID=67773&amp;PageID=9\">stated<\/a>, \u201c<\/span><span>This&nbsp;wasn\u2019t \u2018liberalism gone amok\u2019 or \u2018cancel culture at its finest.\u2019\u201d McGowan added the district was not attempting&nbsp;<\/span><span>\u201cto push an agenda.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The letter is posted to the school\u2019s website and<\/span><span>&nbsp;reads in part:&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Second, it may seem silly to some, but the fact that \u201cJingle Bells\u201d was first performed in minstrel shows where white actors performed in blackface does&nbsp;actually matter&nbsp;when it comes to questions of what we use as material in school.&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;glad that our staff paused when learning of this, reflected,&nbsp;and decided to use different material to&nbsp;accomplish&nbsp;the same&nbsp;objective&nbsp;in class. It is also important to note that a song so closely related to a religious holiday that is not celebrated by everyone in our community was not likely a song that we would have wanted as part of the school curriculum in the first place. Our staff found that their simple&nbsp;objective&nbsp;could be&nbsp;accomplished&nbsp;by singing any one of many songs in class and therefore they chose to simply choose other songs.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Third, choosing songs other than \u201cJingle Bells\u201d wasn\u2019t a major policy initiative, a \u201cbanning\u201d of the song or some&nbsp;significant change&nbsp;to a concert repertoire done in response to a complaint. This&nbsp;wasn\u2019t&nbsp;\u201cliberalism gone amok\u201d or \u201ccancel culture at its finest\u201d as some have suggested. Nobody has said you&nbsp;shouldn\u2019t&nbsp;sing \u201cJingle Bells\u201d or ever in any way suggested that to your children. I can assure you that this situation is not an attempt to push an agenda. We were not and are not even discussing the song and&nbsp;its&nbsp;origins, whatever they may be. This was very simply a thoughtful shift made by thoughtful staff members who thought they could&nbsp;accomplish&nbsp;their instructional&nbsp;objective&nbsp;using different material. The change in material is also not something being forced on children or propaganda being spread. The teachers have never taught about the song in any way when it was being used then or&nbsp;in the midst of&nbsp;deciding not to use it. In other words, suggestions that this situation is&nbsp;somehow being&nbsp;used&nbsp;as a way to&nbsp;indoctrinate children just&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;make sense either. It is as simple as this, we are using different songs, and we are not teaching about their history at this level. Nobody is discussing politics about the song or anything&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;its history with students. This is not a political situation, it was a simple, thoughtful curricular decision.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>In her, work Hamill says the tune, was composed at a time when sleigh songs were extremely popular, the Rochester Beacon reports.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The outlet notes Hamill\u2019s hypothesis as to why Pierpont composed the song, and why it may have been performed at minstrel shows:&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Hamill hypothesizes that Pierpont \u201cneeded the work,\u201d and therefore wrote the song and others like it to conform to the conventions of minstrel shows at that time, such as fast sleighs, bells, and young people courting and laughing. He wrote such songs, she says, \u201cout of pure financial necessity.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The New England Historical Society <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com\/james-lord-pierpont-10-unusual-facts-life\/\">categorized<\/a> the song as<\/span><span>&nbsp;\u201cthe equivalent of a Beach Boy\u2019s song about fast cars, pretty girls and sneaking off to be together in private.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An upstate New York school district has pulled the\u00a0classic winter tune \u201cJingle Bells\u201d from the music curriculum at an elementary school over concerns that it may have first been performed &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1181259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}