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 (syncopation)

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 gasoline-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 dity, 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 railroad 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 Mississippf 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 troupe 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.