Thursday August 31, 2023, 7pm, Book Talk Campbell County Public Library (Newport, KY)
Explore regional history with our Spotlight Series, which brings three engaging talks from local speakers and authors to our Newport Branch.
Wrapping up Spotlight Series is another look at Kentucky’s history, specifically its state song. Emily Bingham, author of My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic Song, will discuss the long, strange journey of Stephen Foster’s anthem. The song saw enormous success in the early 1850s. Written by a white man about a Black man being sold downriver and performed for decades by white men in blackface, the song, about longing and pain, was turned upside down and, over time, became a celebration of “happy” plantation life. More information here