The legacy of Indy native James Baskett and Song of the South

<p dir="ltr">(January 11, 2020) Even specialists in African-African history could be forgiven for drawing a blank at the mention of the name of <strong>Indianapolis</strong> native <strong><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0059934/bio">James Baskett</a></strong>. In spite of being the <strong><a href= "https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1948">first black male actor to win an Oscar</a></strong> - for a role in which he sang a song that also won an Academy Award - Baskett's place in the annals of African-American history seems to be largely forgotten.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src= "http://hoosierhistorylive.org/images/James-Baskett-receives-Academy-Award.PNG" alt= "In 1948 James Baskett received an honorary Academy Award for his role in Disney's Song of the South. " width="293" height="451" align="left" />That's because the role for which Baskett won his honorary Oscar was that of <strong><a href= "https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/uncle-remus-tales">Uncle Remus</a></strong> in the much maligned, now virtually banned film <strong><em><a href= "https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038969/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Song of the South</a></em></strong>. The Disney musical was a modest hit when it was released in 1946, but changing sensibilities about race over the past three quarters of a century have made the film toxic to the image-conscious studio.</p> <p>Disney chose not to release the film for home viewing during the 1980s VCR boom; nor did they cash in on a DVD release in recent decades. With the 2019 advent of the <strong><a href= "https://www.disneyplus.com/welcome">Disney+ streaming service</a></strong>, <em>Song of the South</em> has once again found itself locked out of the Magic Kingdom. </p> <p dir="ltr">And not without good cause. Film critics and historians have condemned the film's sweetly nostalgic portrayal of the social hierarchy of the post-Civil War, Reconstruction-era South. <strong><a href= "https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2007/mar/28/therearetwodisneyfilms">As Guardian fi