How Did Jazz Affect African American Society

Jazz is one of the oldest musical genres created in the United States. Established by African Americans, the origins of Jazz can be traced back to the late 19th and early 20th century, a time of social change and technological advances in the United States. Jazz has been identified as part of a proud African American tradition as well as the more rebellious social attitudes of Americans after WW1 for nearly 100 years now. Initially, jazz was seen a threat to the established social order in America. Now, however, it is celebrated almost everywhere in the United States as it is the first indigenous American style to affect music all around the world.’1

For the African Americans, music was a way of expressing their freedom against a system which saw them as objects of commercial transaction and exploitation’2. So then came about Jazz, the result of African rhythm and European harmony being mixed together. Jazz was initially

However many people, especially the older generation jazz was perceived as a threat to the already established American social order. Firstly and most importantly why jazz was seen as a threat was due to the fact that African-Americans were more appreciated for their talents instead of being used for commercial reasons and exploitation. This was not well received by the likes of the Ku Klux Klan and even church going African-American leaders, who shunned it as an obstacle to their race achieving respectability’4. Secondly, the role women played in jazz was also seen as a threat to some. Young women, known as "flappers," shocked their parents by cutting their hair and wearing shorter dresses and celebrated their new found freedom by dancing to jazz rhythms ‘5. Why this was seen as threat was simply because women had never been this free to enjoy themselves and had always been the traditional