Commentary

1. Ragtime: the form of music, song and dance of black US origin,
popular in the 1920's in which the strong note of the tune comes just
before the main beat of the music played with it (sincopation)

2. a new model T-Ford: the model T-Ford, of which 15 million
were sold, was the automobile that changed the pattern of life in
the United States. It first appeared in 1908 and was one of the first
cars to be made by assembly line methods and was the first gaso­
line-operated car sold at a price that many Americans could afford.
The name of its builder. Henry Ford, became a household word

around the world.

3. Theodore Roosevelt: (1858—1919), twenty-sixth president of

the United States of America (1901-1909)

4. Manhattan: one of the five boroughs that make up New York City. Reputation as the cultural centre of the nation.

5. Wall Street: a street in New York City, extending from Broad­way to the East River, financial center of the United States

6. Scott Joplin: (1868—1917), American composer of ragtime
music, who was known as the "King of Ragtime". The son of a rail-

road laborer who had been a slave, Joplin showed musical ability by the time he was seven. He taught himself to play the piano and even­tually became an itinerant musician, playing in cafes and honky-tonks and learning the music of the blacks in the Mississippi Valley.

7. Carrie Jacobs Bond: (1862—1946), songwriter, author of about 170 published songs, including "I Love You Truly" and "The End of a Perfect Day"

8. coon songs: White American Negro (Black) folksongs

9. minstrel show: stage entertainment featuring comic dialogue, song and dance, in highly conventionalized patterns. Performed by a group of actors in blackface comprising of an interlocutor, two end men, and a chorus; developed in the United States in the early and mid-19th century.

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