The purpose of this report was for me to research and explore the connection between African American women and music. Since prior to the slave decades, music has been an integral part of African American society, and served as a form of social, economic, and emotional support in African American communities in the past and present. This paper will cover three different types of secular music that emerged during the slave days, through the civil war, reconstruction, and depression periods. They are blues, jazz, and gospel music. Each of these forms of music are still in existence today. In addition to exploring the history of each of these genres of music, this report will identify three African American female music legends, Bessie Smith, Emma Barrett, and Mahalia Jackson.
Blues emerged in the period between the end of the civil war, and the beginning of the 20th century. Originating in the fields of the rural south, it became popular after the emancipation of the slaves. In this form of music, the singer and composer is one in the same, a characteristic not evident in the spiritual songs of the slave communities. Spirituals were somewhat of a passage way for blues. Blues followed blacks to urban societies as spirituals followed the slaves onto the plantations. The differences between these types of music were that spirituals were collective, whereas an individual sang blues. Blues attributed to the evolution of black society toward individualism after the collective society of slavery. Blues became know as the music of the black working class. It was a way for African Americans to express the modern problems of economics, social errors, and poverty and power struggles they faced after they became free. African Americans were still living in unjust societies, where jobs were hard to find. They began to migrate north, but the case remained the same. They used music for economic gain in nightclubs, corner halls, publishing, and recording.
One of the greatest African American female blues singers was Bessie Smith. She was born on April 15, 1894 or 1898. The exact date is unknown. Her father William was a preacher, who died when Bessie was very young. This left her mother to raise seven children on her own. When Bessie was nine years old, her mother Laura had passed away, and two of her brothers had died as well. The oldest sister brought up the five remaining brothers and sisters. Prior to the death of Bessie’s mother, she was singing on a street corner to the accompaniment of her brother’s guitar.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 28, 1958. He grew up in a small scale two bedroom house that was within a substandard neighborhood with this eight brothers and sisters, along with their parents
The blues emerged as a distinct African-American musical form in the early twentieth century. It typically employed a twelve-bar framework and three-lined stanzas; its roots are based in early African-American songs, such as field hollers and work songs, and generally have a melancholy mood. The blues can be divided into many sub-genres, including Classical, Country, and Urban. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the careers of two of Classical blues most influential and legendary singers: Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.
Michael Jackson, king of pop was an American singer, songwriter, dancer and record producer. His contribution to the music, dance and fashion industry was immense and he was a global figure so many people around the world. Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 as an eight child of an African American family living in a small house in Gary, Indiana. He faced many hardships during his child such as being abused as a child, as his father confessed to being abusive towards him “ 'I don 't [regret the beatings], ' he said. 'It kept them out of jail and kept them right.”. This actually played a big role in his success.
Michael Joseph Jackson, or as most people know him The King of Pop, was a
Throughout our history, there has been several different things that our country has done and supported that we are not proud of now. One of those things is slavery. At the time, slavery was a widely controversial topic from 1800-1860, known as the antebellum period. It soon became known that two regions of the United States had very different views on slavery, for very different reasons: the North being against, and the South being for slavery. With this in mind, the South began to construct arguments in order to defend and legitimize their reasoning as to why slavery should exist and not become abolished. This paper is meant to argue against the Southerners’ defenses of slavery. The South had constructed several different arguments to defend their position on slavery, and among them were the Religious Defense, the Political Defense, and the Economic Argument. Though the South made very compelling arguments regarding the practice of slavery, these three arguments can be proven wrong and dubious by stating that there is a sense of a moral code in the Bible regarding the treatment of slaves, that blacks are not subjected to being lower than whites just because of their race, and that if slavery was to be abolished, the economy would still thrive just as it was in the north.
Michael was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. He lived with his 5 siblings, and his Parents. The Jackson family was poor, but managed to get by in their little house on, coincidentally-named, Jackson St. The Jackson brothers were born into a musical life. Their father, Joseph had previous musical experience with his blues group, The Falcons. Unfortunately their career did not take off, and they eventually broke up. Joseph saw something in his children. He saw what they were capable of, musically, and in the early 1960’s formed a group with Michael’s three older brothers, Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine known as, “The Jackson Brothers”. Michael at a very young age was influenced by artists such as Sammy Davis Jr., Smokey Robinson, and James Brown. At the age of only five years old, his mother would watch him singing and dancing along to old James Brown 45s, and she knew there was something special in him. (Jackson, “Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon). Michael was presented to his brothers and father, and was a quick addition to the Jackson’s musical group, taking over his brother, Jermaine’s position as lead singer. Joinin...
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the time of Bessie’s birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had nine children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues about race. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it difficult from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her father decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for work, if he were to live in a cotton town.
Michael Jackson is a name that is known worldwide. People either love him or hate him, but no one has ever denied that he had talent. This sing songwriter became the King of Pop as he transformed the face of pop music and popular culture across the nation. He started out as the lead singer of the Jackson family popular Motown group called the Jackson 5 (Michael Jackson Biography, n.d.). From there on he began breaking numerous records. As a solo artist, he received multiple Grammys and Guinness world records. Right from the beginning he influences thousands changing the way people listened to music and culture. Michael Jackson changed the sound of music, dance, and fashion.
Born on August 29, 1958 to a strict working class family in Gary, Indiana. Michael Jackson has gone through personal scandal, family squabbles and numerous career quakes but Michael Joseph Jackson remains one of the planet's best known figures. Jackson has spent almost his entire life as a public performer. He was the founder member of the Jackson Five at the age of four, soon becoming their lead vocalist and frontman. This implies Jackson has started his career at a very early age to gradually become one good public personality and famous. For this and for other reasons, he deserves praise and to be praised.
Blues music originated in the cotton fields of the southern United States where the majority of the slave hands were put to work. “The earliest folk-blues were sung by nameless African-Americans living and working in the South’s cotton belt in the early 1880’s and 1890’s- in particular, the region from the Mississippi Delta to East Texas”(Barlow 3). It was believed that this began as a call and response style, which matured into the work song. From that standpoint, after the release of the slaves, the work song then matured into their Spirituals, and later was introduced to the whites through black-faced Minstrel of Medicine shows (How the Blues Overview). As the music matured and became more renowned, its influence became prominent in the music styles of the time, and in the intertwining relationships between the races. “The music was a unique and cultural offering that whites could not deny. It was something new and intriguing to whites that shed a new light on blacks and their place in American culture and society”(Overview). The music did not seem to have the same color restrictions as the music previously performed. It drew blacks and whites together in a place where everyone could leave the Jim Crow laws at the door (Overview). This offered a new and beneficial lifestyle for the blacks as well as the whites. Maybe the interest was that the white people had found a new talent to exploit and from which to make easy money, or perhaps, maybe it was because the whites genuinely understood the cultural significance in the music and respected this talent of the black race enough to overcome racial and cultural differences.
African Americans have overcome many obstacles throughout their journey to freedom. Slavery began in the United States in 1619, in Jamestown, Virginia. Although the Union’s victory in the Civil War ended slavery, it continues to be a huge part of history to the United States. The culture of African Americans has been greatly shaped by the tribulations their ancestors suffered throughout their journey to freedom. African American slaves lived lives in which they were consistently treated inhumanely on a number of different levels, yet they found methods to endure and overcome these cruel times (Facts).
The most problematic conclusion about Mass Incarceration, whatever the causes or practices, is that currently America has had the highest national prison rates in the world; furthermore, the rates of minorities (particularly African Americans) are extraordinarily disproportionate to the rates of incarcerated Caucasians. Despite the overall rise in incarceration rates since the 1980s, the crime rates have not been reduced as would be expected. Researchers, activists, and politicians alike are now taking a closer look at Mass Incarceration and how it affects society on a larger scale. The purpose of this paper is to examine the anatomy of Mass Incarceration for a better understanding of its importance as a dominant social issue and its ultimate relation to practice of social work. More specifically the populations affected by mass incarceration and the consequences implacable to social justice. The context of historical perspectives on mass incarceration will be analyzed as well as insight to the current social welfare policies on the
...The Roman engineers maintained a rather constant downward slope, from the mountains to the city. The Roman army also built massive bridges, capable of supporting great weight. Many time an aqueduct and a bridge would be built on top of one another. This would obviously save a great deal of time and money. Roman bridges were especially important in the transportation on military units around the empire.
Michael Joseph Jackson was and still is seen as the biggest popstar of the 20th century and is also considered the most popular recording artist of all time. A person could identify his voice as soon as they heard it. He had incredible dance moves, musical adaptability, and had a great deal of star power. Jackson was born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana to Katherine Jackson and Joseph Jackson who was a guitarist but had to put his musical ambitions to the side to care for his large family. Michael was a part of a group known as the Jackson 5 just at the age of five, which was made up of four of his older brothers. Their father believing they had talent, would soon lead them to fame. While still being a part of the Jackson 5 group, at the
Powell, A. (2007). The Music of African Americans and its Impact on the American Culture in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Miller African Centered Academy, 1. Retrieved from http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf