Banjo History and Mythology

For the last one hundred and fifty years the banjo, along with the log cabin and the "Sweet Sunny South," has been a symbol of a mythical simpler time and place. The banjo, introduced to America by African American slaves, represents the evolution of a North African stringed instrument called an Ankonting. During the mid-nineteenth century, the banjo was often shown in the hands of a "happy, carefree" slave. Later, the symbol of a time left behind would become the barefoot, banjo playing, hillbilly, mountain man. Many sentimental country and folk songs have been written about log cabins, including Fiddlin' John Carson's 1923 Okeh release "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane." "The Little Log Cabin" 78 rpm backed by "The Old Hen Cackled and the "Rooster's Going to Crow" was such a huge, and surprising, success that it led to northern record companies setting up field recording sessions around the south, scrambling to find more hillbilly old time music. This postcard dated 1908, found in a Connecticut antique shop, makes use of  two nineteenth century stereotypes—the banjo playing slave and the log cabin—to depict a purely fictional pastoral setting that people beset by life changing technology and "progress" have been longing for since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

For more reading on the social history of the American banjo:

That Half-Barbaric Twang

African Banjo Echoes In Appalachia

America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Ninteenth Century