A New York primary school has removed the song 'Jingle Bells' from its curriculum because of its connection with the 19th century blackface performing tradition.

Brighton's Council Rock Primary school principal Matthew Tappon, in an email to local news outlet The Rochester Beacon, explained that the Christmas favorite had been replaced with other songs that don't have "the potential to be controversial or offensive."

Tappon and his colleagues clarified that their decision was prompted by a 2017 article by Boston University Professor Kyna Hamill. The researcher found documents showing a connection between 'Jingle Bells' and blackface minstrelsy, a popular form of entertainment in mid-19th-century America.

When approached by The Rochester Beacon, Hamill said that she was "shocked" with the school's decision to 'cancel' a song.

"I, in no way, recommended that it stopped being sung by children," she said in an email.The professor added that her research was simply telling the story of the first performance of the song and is in no way connected "with the popular Christmas tradition of singing the song now." She went on to say that the song's popularity and its catchy melody is an interesting phenomenon by itself, and should not be perceived only via the prism of its minstrel-era origin.

"I would say it should very much be sung and enjoyed, and perhaps discussed," she said.