Foster, Stephen

Cultural  

1. A nineteenth-century American songwriter. He wrote the words and music to some of the country's perennially favorite songs, including “Oh! Susanna,” “The Old Folks at Home,” “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,” and “Beautiful Dreamer.”

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Example Sentences

She knew her guests had studied the music of Stephen Foster in school, so she arranged for a group to serenade them with songs like “Oh! Susanna” and “My Old Kentucky Home.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

Mr. Sparks was quick to note that his group otherwise shared nothing with its namesake, a white group that had promoted the music of Stephen Foster in blackface.

From New York Times • Feb. 17, 2024

Using the language of the Cold War that was at its peak in the mid-1950s, Ethridge described the lyric substitution as “blacklisting Stephen Foster songs.”

From Slate • Jul. 5, 2023

Bingham begins with Stephen Foster, who is unironically known as “the father of American music.”

From Washington Post • May 3, 2022

Stephen Foster, a representative of the Massachusetts delegation who had worked with Stanton for almost twenty years, stood and called for her resignation.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling