Introduction: The Languages of Black-Jewish Relations "Yiddle on Your Fiddle": The Culture of Black-Jewish Relations "I Used to Be Color Blind": The Racialness of Jewish Men "Swanee Ripples": From Blackface to White Negro "Lift Ev'ry Voice": African American Music and the Nation "Melancholy Blues": Making Jews Sacred in African American Music Epilogue: The Lasting Power of "Black-Jewish Relations" Notes Index
Melnick argues that we need to rethink the cultural narratives of 'Black-Jewish relations' and examine the ways in which these narratives tell stories about class and articulate concerns about masculinity and sexuality. In a compelling account of the music industry, in particular, and the culture industry, in general, he examines how Jews and African Americans were not just objects of a sexualized discourse around jazz and ragtime but how the musical world was a terrain in which they spoke to and about each other. A Right to Sing the Blues is an absolutely fascinating and original account of the role of Jewish cultural work in the production of African American culture. -- Hazel V. Carby, author of Race Men A Right to Sing the Blues will be indispensable to any further discussion of 'Black-Jewish relations,' debunking many of the assumptions underlying that discussion in its past form and thus making possible far more productive ones. I learned a great deal from this book. -- George Hutchinson, author of The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White Jeff Melnick means to displace the narrative of a Black-Jewish political alliance as the central, mythicized way of understanding the relations between Blacks and Jews in the United States. He goes back instead to the central role of Jews vis-a-vis African Americans and African-American music in popular culture, and how, finally, Jews developed new identities as American Jews through their relation to real and imaginary African Americans and their music. Filled with terrific material that is unfailingly analyzed in a smart, lively, and often brilliant way, A Right to Sing the Blues is a major book on a major and timely subject. This volume is going to cause quite a stir. -- Michael P. Rogin, author of Blackface, White Noise
Jeffrey Melnick is Associate Professor of American Studies at University of Massachusetts Boston.
In his complex and challenging book, A Right to Sing the Blues,
Jeffrey Melnick seeks to interpret the narrative of ‘Black–Jewish
relations’ within the context of the efforts of Jews in the
American entertainment business to ‘reorganize Jewishness as a
species of whiteness’… Melnick’s analysis is intriguing and
provocative.
*Times Literary Supplement*
This is fascinating reading for those interested in music history,
relationships between blacks and Jews, and American popular
culture.
*Booklist*
At the core of this inventive and entertaining examination of
black-Jewish relationships is Melnick’s theory that Jews embraced
the blackface masks and popular song of minstrel shows—the style,
language, and nuance of black culture—as a means of establishing
their own status as whites.
*Booklist*
Did Jews embrace the blackface masks and popular song of minstrel
shows—the style, language, and nuance of black culture—as a means
of establishing their own status as whites? Melnick answers that
provocative question with this wide-angle view, through the lens of
popular American music, of black–Jewish relationships.
*Booklist (An “Editor’s Choice 1999” Selection)*
Links between blacks, Jews, and American popular music are the
focus in a title which examines Jewish songwriters, composers, and
performers who made black music popular in the first few decades of
this century. The focus on shared experiences between
Afro-Americans and Jews draws some important connections between
ethnic groups often at odds with one another.
*Bookwatch*
Melnick’s well-researched book explores Black–Jewish relations
through the lens of US popular music in the ‘age of ragtime and
jazz,’ when Jews became consummate minstrel and vaudeville
interpreters, Tin Pan Alley songsmiths, and song publishers…
Melnick argues that Jews used their black musical forms for popular
consumption and in the process to ‘reorganize Jewishness as a
species of whiteness.’
*Choice*
Melnick uses the music industry to examine closely the nature of
[the] ambivalent relationship [between Jews and African Americans].
Focusing on Jewish Tin Pan Alley song writers and performers such
as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Al Jolson, Melnick explores
how they balanced an affinity for black music with the conscious
effort to show how they were transforming what was seen as a lower
form of culture into something more palatable for mass white
audiences.
*Library Journal*
Melnick argues that we need to rethink the cultural narratives of
‘Black–Jewish relations’ and examine the ways in which these
narratives tell stories about class and articulate concerns about
masculinity and sexuality. In a compelling account of the music
industry, in particular, and the culture industry, in general, he
examines how Jews and African Americans were not just objects of a
sexualized discourse around jazz and ragtime but how the musical
world was a terrain in which they spoke to and about each other. A
Right to Sing the Blues is an absolutely fascinating and original
account of the role of Jewish cultural work in the production of
African American culture.
*Hazel V. Carby, author of Race Men*
A Right to Sing the Blues will be indispensable to any further
discussion of ‘Black–Jewish relations,’ debunking many of the
assumptions underlying that discussion in its past form and thus
making possible far more productive ones. I learned a great deal
from this book.
*George Hutchinson, author of The Harlem Renaissance in Black
and White*
Jeff Melnick means to displace the narrative of a Black–Jewish
political alliance as the central, mythicized way of understanding
the relations between Blacks and Jews in the United States. He goes
back instead to the central role of Jews vis-à-vis African
Americans and African-American music in popular culture, and how,
finally, Jews developed new identities as American Jews through
their relation to real and imaginary African Americans and their
music. Filled with terrific material that is unfailingly analyzed
in a smart, lively, and often brilliant way, A Right to Sing the
Blues is a major book on a major and timely subject. This volume is
going to cause quite a stir.
*Michael P. Rogin, author of Blackface, White Noise*
In his complex and challenging book, A Right to Sing the
Blues, Jeffrey Melnick seeks to interpret the narrative of
'Black-Jewish relations' within the context of the efforts of Jews
in the American entertainment business to 'reorganize Jewishness as
a species of whiteness'... Melnick's analysis is intriguing and
provocative. -- James C. Cobb * Times Literary Supplement *
This is fascinating reading for those interested in music history,
relationships between blacks and Jews, and American popular
culture. -- Vernon Ford * Booklist *
At the core of this inventive and entertaining examination of
black-Jewish relationships is Melnick's theory that Jews embraced
the blackface masks and popular song of minstrel shows-the style,
language, and nuance of black culture-as a means of establishing
their own status as whites. * Booklist *
Did Jews embrace the blackface masks and popular song of minstrel
shows-the style, language, and nuance of black culture-as a means
of establishing their own status as whites? Melnick answers that
provocative question with this wide-angle view, through the lens of
popular American music, of black-Jewish relationships. * Booklist
(An "Editor's Choice 1999" Selection) *
Links between blacks, Jews, and American popular music are the
focus in a title which examines Jewish songwriters, composers, and
performers who made black music popular in the first few decades of
this century. The focus on shared experiences between
Afro-Americans and Jews draws some important connections between
ethnic groups often at odds with one another. * Bookwatch *
Melnick's well-researched book explores Black-Jewish relations
through the lens of US popular music in the 'age of ragtime and
jazz,' when Jews became consummate minstrel and vaudeville
interpreters, Tin Pan Alley songsmiths, and song publishers...
Melnick argues that Jews used their black musical forms for popular
consumption and in the process to 'reorganize Jewishness as a
species of whiteness.' -- G. Averill * Choice *
Melnick uses the music industry to examine closely the nature of
[the] ambivalent relationship [between Jews and African Americans].
Focusing on Jewish Tin Pan Alley song writers and performers such
as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Al Jolson, Melnick explores
how they balanced an affinity for black music with the conscious
effort to show how they were transforming what was seen as a lower
form of culture into something more palatable for mass white
audiences. -- Dan Bogey * Library Journal *
Melnick argues that we need to rethink the cultural narratives of
'Black-Jewish relations' and examine the ways in which these
narratives tell stories about class and articulate concerns about
masculinity and sexuality. In a compelling account of the music
industry, in particular, and the culture industry, in general, he
examines how Jews and African Americans were not just objects of a
sexualized discourse around jazz and ragtime but how the musical
world was a terrain in which they spoke to and about each other.
A Right to Sing the Blues is an absolutely fascinating and
original account of the role of Jewish cultural work in the
production of African American culture. -- Hazel V. Carby, author
of Race Men
A Right to Sing the Blues will be indispensable to any
further discussion of 'Black-Jewish relations,' debunking many of
the assumptions underlying that discussion in its past form and
thus making possible far more productive ones. I learned a great
deal from this book. -- George Hutchinson, author of The Harlem
Renaissance in Black and White
Jeff Melnick means to displace the narrative of a Black-Jewish
political alliance as the central, mythicized way of understanding
the relations between Blacks and Jews in the United States. He goes
back instead to the central role of Jews vis-a-vis African
Americans and African-American music in popular culture, and how,
finally, Jews developed new identities as American Jews through
their relation to real and imaginary African Americans and their
music. Filled with terrific material that is unfailingly analyzed
in a smart, lively, and often brilliant way, A Right to Sing the
Blues is a major book on a major and timely subject. This
volume is going to cause quite a stir. -- Michael P. Rogin, author
of Blackface, White Noise
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