Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, School of Music, 2022Presented as three studies, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine the history, nature, and use of folk songs with racist origins in the elementary general music classroom. The purpose of the first study was to explore the historical transmission and practices of folk songs in the Appalachian region from the perspective of folklorist Henry Glassie. Primary sources included Glassie’s archived collection of folk song transcriptions, recordings, and field notes from the Appalachian region between 1961-1967, housed at the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University. A total of 1,665 titles from elementary general music sources were cross-referenced with Glassie’s collection, 26 of which appeared in the archived account. Two oral history interviews with Glassie revealed that folk songs that are commonly used in elementary general music classrooms have historical roots related to violence and sexism of which teachers may be unaware. The purpose of the second study was to philosophically problematize elementary music teachers’ choice to both erase folk songs from their curricula and to replace lyrics with racist associations. I defined erasing as a process in which music educators remove certain folk songs with racist origins entirely from their repertories, whereas I defined replacing as a process in which music educators adapt texts of certain folk songs with racist origins and thereby change the musical stories of those songs. I argued that both choices are insufficient for teaching students about the historical legacy of contemporary racism. Next, I proposed erasing-as-dismantling and radically replacing as two sequential processes in lieu of the simplistic choices to erase and replace. Subsequently, I conceived of thoughtfully erasing to radically replace as a practice during which white teachers decenter whiteness and center the lived experiences of the Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian/Pacific Islander (BBIA) community. The purpose of the third study was to investigate the self-reported practices of P–6 elementary general music teachers (N = 275) regarding their experiences with folk songs. A secondary purpose was to examine P–6 elementary general music teachers’ familiarity with and incorporation of anti-racist pedagogy into their teaching practices. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Out of 19 folk songs with racist origins, respondents indicated that they did not teach many of the songs in this questionnaire. Participants also had varying experiences with the folk songs, ranging from their discoveries of the songs’ racist backgrounds to positive experiences for individuals who continued to incorporate them into their curricula. Many of the respondents also asserted a need for elementary educators to teach about anti-racism by making students aware of the folk songs’ racist roots.