"Old Folks at Home" is a minstrel song written by Stephen Foster in 1851. Since 1935, it has been the official state song of Florida, although in 2008 the original lyrics were revised. It is Roud Folk Song Index no. 13880.
Old Folks at Home
Stephen Collins Foster, known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer", and many of his compositions remain popular today.
Foster circa 1860
Foster's parents, Eliza Tomlinson Foster and William Barclay Foster
House in Hoboken, New Jersey where Foster is believed to have written "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" in 1854
A Pittsburgh Press illustration of the original headstone on Stephen Foster's grave