May IrwinMay Irwin reigned as America's queen of comedy and song from the 1880s through the 1920s. A genuine pop culture phenomenon, Irwin conquered the legitimate stage, composed song lyrics, and parlayed her celebrity into success as a cookbook author, suffragette, and real estate mogul. Sharon Ammen's in depth study traces Irwin's hurly burly life. Irwin gained fame when, layering aspects of minstrelsy over ragtime, she popularized a racist "Negro song"