Ernest Hogan
songwriterName
Ernest Hogan
About
Born in Kentucky in 1865, Hogan grew famous from a song he later repudiated, "All Coons Look Alike to Me." "Coon” was originally a slang term applied to white people. It described a person who was uneducated but slick, capable, tricky, and adaptable. Davy Crockett, the frontiersman, would describe himself as a “coon.” Later the term gets applied to “Zip Coon,” a stock character in the minstrel show who dressed in flashy clothes and flouted the law. “All Coons Look Alike to Me,” written in 1865, introduced some elements of ragtime into vocal performance. It started a vogue for “coon songs,” which carried the minstrel tradition into solo and duet performance.
Role(s)
songwriter
Musician
Birth date
1865
Death date
May 20, 1909
Genre
Born in Kentucky in 1865, Hogan grew famous from a song he later repudiated, "All Coons Look Alike to Me." "Coon” was originally a slang term applied to white people. It described a person who was uneducated but slick, capable, tricky, and adaptable. Davy Crockett, the frontiersman, would describe himself as a “coon.” Later the term gets applied to “Zip Coon,” a stock character in the minstrel show who dressed in flashy clothes and flouted the law. “All Coons Look Alike to Me,” written in 1865, introduced some elements of ragtime into vocal performance. It started a vogue for “coon songs,” which carried the minstrel tradition into solo and duet performance.
