Louis Armstrong And The Age Of The Jazz Age

Justine Alves
Mr. Pointer
U.S History Period 5
April 29 2014
The Jazz Age
“I always thought that music had no boundaries, no limits to where it could grow and go, no restrictions its creativity. Good musicians no matter what kind of music it is. And I always hated categories. Always. Never thought it had any place in music.”(Davis 230) Jazz music is a art form that the first jazz musicians used to step out of the racist frame. Jazz singers strive to inspire people with their gospel tones but were often criticized for their truthful lyrics. Artists like Louis Armstrong , Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis are just a few that have been noticed for their works although all of the jazz artists throughout the jazz age should take credit for the historical civil rights movement. The popularity of jazz music in the twentieth century helped to progress the civil rights movement, challenged segregation laws and created a lasting American art form.
One of the very monumental jazz artists during the jazz age was Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was a trumpet player, bandleader, soloists and singer. Louis was born on August fourth 1901 in a bad neighborhood of New Orleans called “The Battlefield”. His parents were not the best . Armstrong's father was a factory worker but left when he was young. His mother was around but she often turned to prostitution in order to help support him; therefore his grandmother was his primary guardian. Armstrong's first job was given to him by a Jewish family by the last name of Karnofskys working delivering coal and collecting junk The Karnofskys often fed him meals and always encouraged him to sing. Armstrong was a bit rough around the edges and he had an incident on new year’s eve in 1912 he fired h...

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...become the famous musicians they are known as today. Many also struggled with drug addictions because of the times they grew up living in. The lyrics of the songs composed by jazz singers were risky and bold. Louis Armstrong released his song Black and Blue in 1929 “My only sin, is my skin, what did I do, to be so black and blue” with these lyrics Armstrong was expressing his pain from all of the discrimination. The reason many of these jazz singers were so determined to go big was to prove the point that a black artist could become rich and famous too, to break the mold of black being not worthy enough. They were inspired by the speeches Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King Jr. The uplifting tunes and risky lyrics captured crowds’ worldwide and opened people’s eyes to the fact that all people deserved equal rights. Jazz was “the” music of the civil rights movement.