Little Alabama Coon
I ’s a little Alabama Coon,
And I has n’t been born very long;
I ’member seein’ a great big round moon;
I ’member hearin’ one sweet song.
When dey tote me down to de cotton field,
Dar I roll and I tumble in de sun;
While my daddy pick de cotton, mammy watch me grow,
And dis am de song she sung:
Go to sleep, my little pickaninny,—
Brer’ Fox ’ll catch you if yo’ don’t;
Slumber on de bosom of yo’ ole Mammy Jinny,—
Mammy’s gwine to swat yo’ if you won’t.
Sh! sh! sh!
Lu-la, lu-la lu-la lu-la lu!
Underneaf de silver Southern moon;
Rock-a-by! hush-a-by!
Mammy’s little baby,
Mammy’s little Alabama Coon.
Dis hyar little Alabama Coon
Specks to be a growed-up man some day;
Dey ’s gwine to christen me hyar very soon,—
My name ’s gwine to be “Henry Clay.”
When I ’s big, I ’s gwine to wed a yellow gal;
Den we ’ll hab pickaninnies ob our own;
Den dat yellow gal shall rock ’em on her bosom,
And dis am de song she ’ll croon:
Go to sleep, my little pickaninny,—
Brer’ Fox ’ll catch you if yo’ don’t;
Slumber on de bosom of yo’ ole Mammy Jinny,—
Mammy’s gwine to swat yo’ if you won’t.
Sh! sh! sh!
Lu-la, lu-la lu-la lu-la lu!
Underneaf de silver Southern moon;
Rock-a-by! hush-a-by!
Mammy’s little baby,
Mammy’s little Alabama Coon.
About this poem
“Little Alabama Coon” was written by Hattie Starr and published in 1893. It belongs to the “coon song” craze of the 1890s, popular songs that portrayed Black Americans through racist caricature and an imitation of Black Southern speech.
The song is framed as a lullaby sung by a mother to her baby in a cotton field. Today it is read as a historical document. It shows how mass-market music of the period, often performed in blackface minstrel shows, spread demeaning stereotypes, even in a song meant to be tender. The racial slurs in the text reflect the attitudes of its time, not those of this site.