If you lived in the United States in 1855, Stephen Foster would probably be your favorite songwriter. His melodies were beautiful and his lyrics matched the music so well, people loved his songs. In fact, many of his works are still sung today, more than 160 years after they were first written.

Some of Stephen’s songs that are still popular today are “Old Folks At Home,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Oh! Susana.” Another is “I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.”

Between 1842 and 1864, Stephen wrote more than 200 songs. In those days, of course, there were no electronics. You couldn’t hear songs on a phone or a radio, because there were no phones or radios. The only way to listen to music was to hear it performed live. So a song had to be pretty good to become well-known across the country.

Printed music was also very popular at the time. Many people would buy sheet music so they could play it on pianos. Up until Stephen Foster, no American song had ever sold more than 5,000 copies. His “Oh! Susanna” sold more than 100,000!

Before we get to the details of his life, lets understand a bit about the time when he lived.

In the early and middle 1800s, slavery was legal in most southern states. In many places in the north, black people were little known and little understood.

A popular form of entertainment was something called minstrel shows. Early on, these were made up of white men with black makeup on their faces and hands, pretending to be black men and women. They would sing and dance and make it look like black people were lazy and stupid. (Painting your face black is called blackface, something that is now rude and insulting to African Americans.)

When people judge other people only by how they look, we call that a stereotype. (Rhymes with merry oh ripe) Many people who saw minstrel shows judged all black people based on the stereotype the shows presented.

Stephen is criticized because many of his early songs were sung in minstrel shows. He, himself, sometimes performed in blackface. The difference, though, is that his songs didn’t insult or make fun. He sang beautiful, wistful songs that made audiences realize blacks were people, too. They loved, missed their families, cared about beauty, and were hard workers.

Here is one of the verses from his song, Old Black Joe, about a man who has out-lived his family.

“Where are the hearts once so happy and so free? The children so dear that I held upon my knee? Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go. I hear their gentle voices calling ‘Old Black Joe.'”

Many books have been written about Stephen’s life, but the books disagree on some details. That’s because there are not many written records about Stephen. No diaries and that sort of thing. So lets focus on what is known.

Stephen Collins Foster was born on July 4, 1826, in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. His parents, William Barclay Foster and Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Foster, were of English and Scottish descent. Stephen had three older sisters and six older brothers, making him the baby of the family.

At an early age, Stephen taught himself to play the clarinet, guitar, flute, and piano. He may have gotten some musical training from a German-born music dealer in Pittsburgh named Henry Kleber.

He wrote his first song, a piano piece called Tioga Waltz, when he was just 14. The first song of his that got published was “Open Thy Lattice Love.” He was 18 at the time.

Stephen married Jane Denny McDowell in 1850 and the couple lived in Pittsburgh. They had a daughter named Marion.

Though he had amazing talent as a songwriter and great success, Stephen had two serious failings. One involved money and the other, alcohol. He wasn’t good at business and didn’t take care of the money he earned. Time and again he went from being broke to well-off and then back to being broke again. He was often in debt and was often drunk.

His problems with money and alcohol caused many fights between Stephen and Jane. She would leave him, come back, then leave him again. It was during one of the times they were apart that Stephen wrote the beautiful love song, ‘I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.’

Finally, Jane had had enough and left him completely. Stephen moved to New York in 1861. While there, he sold the rights to all his songs for cash. He became ill with a fever and died on January 13, 1864 in a hotel room. There was 40 cents in his wallet. He was alone. He was only 37.

Despite his personal failings and modern-day criticisms, Stephen Foster is still considered this country’s greatest songwriter.

Fun Facts:

• Because his birthday, July 4, is our nation’s birthday, it was decided that the date of his death, January 13, would be called Stephen Foster Day.

• It is believed that one of Stephen’s sisters, Charlotte Susanna Foster, is the inspiration for his song “Oh! Susanna.”

• Two of Stephen Foster’s songs are official state songs. “Old Folks at Home” (also known as “Swanee River”) has been Florida’s state song since 1935. “My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!” has been the state song of Kentucky since 1928.