Boberick Allen- black woman (TX) c1925 Dobie C
[From Tone the Bell Easy; Page 149; James Frank Dobie version C- his notes follow. See also "John Minton's "That Amazing Texas Version of Child 84, `Boberick Allen'. Southern Folklore (1993)50, 1-17. It begins:
'Boberick Allen.'
Notwithstanding the unanimity of this identification, even among those who dispute its significance, that repeated attribution is mere illusion, disclosing considerably more of the preconceptions of certain folklorists, or the vagaries of various folklore methodologies, than of the artistic vision of southern folksingers or the variability of Southern folksong."
Certainly calling this a version of Barbara Allen in a stretch- saying that one line and the theme is taken from the ballad is not:
"His name wus Boberick Allen."
R. Matteson 2015]
In the 1920s folklorist Virginia Bates of Fort Worth collected a version of “Barbara Allen” by a black woman near Hearne, Texas. In this variant, the Scotch lady Barbara Allen had become a black boy called Boberick Allen.
When I was but a girl sixteen,
I wus in love with Boberick,
de othah girls did not see
Why he did always follow me.
He walk to town an' den right back,
To see if I wus on his track,
But he could neber fin' me dere,
Becuz I wus away somewhere
His name wus Boberick Allen."