PHILADELPHIA RIOTS. DE PHILADELPHIA RIOTS; OR, I GUESS IT WAN'T DE NIGGAS DIS TIME.

[African-American Interest]:

Price: 125.00 USD

Philadelphia: Published by J. Torr, [nd. but ca. 1844]., Small broadside songsheet, approximately 25x16.5cm, printed on recto and verso in double columns, with larger display heading. Some slight creasing and foxing, but very nice. A curious song, written in awkward dialect, comprised of nineteen verses, with chorus, to be sung to the tune of "It 'll neber do to gib it up." No doubt printed in response to the Nativist riots that tore the city apart in mid-1844, this song opens: "Oh in Philadelphia folks say how / Dat Darkies kick up all de rows, / But de riot up in Skensin'ton, / Beats all de darkies twelve to one. / An' I guess it wasn't de niggas dis time...." It continues with accounts of the battles between the Irish, Catholics and Nativists, the burnings, etc. The verso prints two "Whig Songs." There is no entry for this item under the title in the NUC.