African Americans and music.

African Americans in a way have had influence on the music, all the way from Minstrelsy shows to the Jazz Age.
African Americans, during the time of Minstrelsy were mocked and had no power. There were songs and shows that completely made African Americans seem inferior at the time. An especially popular song is "Old Folks at Home" by Stepehn Foster. Although this song has some clear racism in it, it was considered an "authentic song of the Negro race" by W.E.B. DuBois and also became the state song of Florida. This song was created for the minstrely, so it definitely was made to make African Americans seem powerless. However, why is this song so accepted? What messages in this song make it acceptable enough to be praised by DuBois and become the state song of Florida?
During the Jazz Age, the music was such a new and different style. This music was risky and rebellious for many reasons. African Americans at this time, also had a very large influence on the music, as seen with new dances such as the Charleston. For this reason, it seems that African Americans were more accepted at the time, but why is it that the AFM would not allow them into their organization? If African Americans had much influence on the music at the time, it is a bit ironic that an organization that helps out musicians wouldn't be there to help African Americans when they were the ones that influenced the music so much.