CHAPTER 6 | BLACK, WHITES, AND THE MINSTREL STAGE 143
like Christy’s. Thus, though they seem not to have met in these years, Christy
and Foster became collaborators of a sort.
In 1850, when Foster became a full-time song writer, he entered into an
agreement that gave Christy’s Minstrels exclusive fi rst-performance rights to
his new songs. In 1851 Foster allowed Christy to claim authorship of “Old Folks
at Home,” a song of huge popularity. The following year, though, he wrote
Christy asking permission to restore his own name to its rightful place on the
song’s cover. “I fi nd that by my efforts I have done a great deal to build up a taste
for the Ethiopian songs among refi ned people,” Foster told Christy. “I have con-
cluded to reinstate my name on my songs and to pursue the Ethiopian business
without fear or shame and lend all my energies to making the business live.” Yet
Christy refused Foster’s request, going so far as to scrawl “vacillating skunk”
on the back of Foster’s letter. Indeed, until the copyright expired in 1879, sheet
music printings of “Old Folks at Home” continued to name Christy as author
and composer.
Foster has often been portrayed as the injured party in this matter: a
young composer seeking only to be recognized for his achievements. ButK Foster’s “Old Folks at
Home” (1851) shows his
reliance on a single four-bar
melody and the simplicity of
the piano accompaniment,
accessible to inexpert
players.172028_06_132-161_r3_ko.indd 143 23/01/13 8:19 PM