Anti- “Mammy” Mom Could Face Time for Booing

We read:

"Last spring, a parent in the audience at a middle school recital was so moved by the children’s performances that she couldn’t help but to stand up...and boo.

Jackie Carter, a local stage director, attended an April 29 production of the Bowen McCauley Dance Company held at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Va., where her daughter attends school, and was outraged by one of the group's skits, “Little Rabbit, Where’s Your Mammy?”

Innocent sounding, sure. But picture this: At a middle school dance performance, children act out a skit featuring an antebellum African-American wet-nurse, or “mammy.” For a black theater buff like Carter, it was too much to take.

And depending on the verdict of her trial that begins April 23, she may face up to a year in jail for doing so.

According to the Afro, the presentation was promoted as a “tribute to American folk culture traditions.”

The school’s principal circulated a letter after the incident on May 2 of last year, stating that the term "mammy" is a “colloquial affectionate term used for mother or grandmother.”

Source

"Mammy" was a well-known Al Jolson song and Jolson was known for the support and help he gave to black entertainers