Louis Armstrong Black And Blue Essay

683 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Compare the messages of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois

Louis Armstrong- Black and Blue

What are the different meanings of the title?
- The meaning of Louis Armstrong’s song title can have two different interpretation: literally and figuratively. The literal meaning of his title “Black and Blue” illustrates Louis’ outer appearance and emotion which he highlights upon in his lyrics. On the other hand, the figurative aspect of the title’s meaning could be understood as a message or his personal testimony to society, which Louis ponders upon his implication of his skin tone.

What is the tone of “my only sin is my skin” and “I’m white inside”?
- The tone of the lyrics perfectly exemplifies Louis’ contemplation or his inner dilemma as a black man. In his lyrics, Louis examines his identity as a black man and declares that his only sin was his skin. The strong statement behind Louis’ lyrics served to …show more content…

While Booker T. Washington’s tone on how African-Americans should approach their civil rights shadowed some dark cynical mood of their reality, in contrast, W.E.B Dubois took a more optimistic and critical tone of pursue their political rights. The difference of the tone was significant because while one believed that the reality of African Americans was hopeless, the other believed that African-Americans deserved same rights, thus, they should be optimistic of pursue their rights. Furthermore, in the poem, the literary elements played a major role identifying the tone of each person. For instance, we see that W.E.B Dubois uses simile, metaphor, and rhyme (“try your little plan, but as for me, I’ll be a man”) to effectively bring out the positive tone that he sees within the pursuit of taking actions and instead of doing nothing. Moreover, unlike W.E.B Dubois, Booker T. Washington uses dictions such as vain, figurative phrases (“folks have missed the boat”), and rhyme to carry out his cynical tone of the reality that he

Show More
Related

  • Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Louis Armstrong's Influence On American History

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    But Armstrong and his jazz, more often than not, supported the civil rights movement. For example, in his 1929 song, “Black and Blue,” Armstrong speaks out, or moreso, sings out, against racism. This was a precarious topic to sing about as a black musician, let alone in front of white audiences. And later, in response to the Little Rock Crisis in 1957, Armstrong openly criticized the prevention of desegregation and canceled his tour in the Soviet Union as cultural ambassador of the United States in retaliation

    Read More

  • WEB DuBois's Influence on Literature and People

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    While DuBois respected Booker T. Washington and his accomplishments, he did not. felt that blacks needed political power to protect what they had and what they earned. DuBois called for a new plan of action. He felt that the The greatest enemy of blacks was not necessarily whites but it was the ignorance of the whites concerning the capabilities of the black race. DuBois's answer was to encourage the development of black youth in America.

    Read More

  • Of the Coming of John by W.E.B. Du Bois

    2251 Words  | 5 Pages

    Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were very important African American leaders in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They both felt strongly that African Americans should not be treated unequally in terms of education and civil rights. They had strong beliefs that education was important for the African American community and stressed that educating African Americans would lead them into obtaining government positions, possibly resulting in social change. Although Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had similar goals to achieve racial equality in the United States, they had strongly opposing approaches in improving the lives of the black population. Washington was a conservative activist who felt that the subordination to white leaders was crucial for African Americans in becoming successful and gaining political power. On the other hand, Du Bois took a radical approach and voiced his opinion through public literature and protest, making it clear that racial discrimination and segregation were intolerable. The opposing ideas of these African American leaders are illustrated in Du Bois’ short story, “Of the Coming of John”, where Du Bois implies his opposition to Washington’s ideas. He shows that the subordination of educated black individuals does not result in gaining respect or equality from the white community. In fact, he suggests that subordination would lead the black community to be further oppressed by whites. However contrasting their views might have been, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were significant influential black leaders of their time, who changed the role of the black community in America.

    Read More

  • Birth Of Blues Essay

    3363 Words  | 7 Pages

    Musicologists have dated the ‘birth’ of blues to be around 1890 as a West African tradition involving blue indigo in which mourners at ceremonies would wear blue dyed attires to resemble their suffering . Although, blues derived from times of slavery, the Prohibition Era (1920’s), World War Two (1939-1945), and during the Vietnam War (predominantly 1960’s to 1970’s), it has been a continuously evolved form of music in America, in which the similarities have always remained; melancholy and protest.

    Read More

  • Theme Of I Too Sing America By Langston Hughes

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Harlem Renaissance the African-American culture struggled. Their race was in need of a voice, a powerful voice. A voice that would lift spirits and give hope to their community. Langston Hughes became that voice. Throughout these three poems, “I, Too, Sing America”, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, and “A Dream Deferred”, he continuously digs deeper to reach the souls of the African-Americans. He spreads hope to all his people and gives them the strength, courage and inspiration to never give up on their dreams. Langston Hughes became the light in the darkness the African-American culture was experiencing. He wasn’t going to let their dreams dissolve. He wasn’t going to let his history vanish, and he certainly wasn’t going to let his people stop believing that there is hope.

    Read More

  • West End Blues: Louis Armstrong's Impact On Jazz Music

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    When it comes to jazz music, there is one name that everyone knows, whether they’ve never listened to jazz before or if they’ve listened to it their whole lives. That name is Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was one of the pioneers of jazz music, from his humble beginnings in one of New Orleans roughest districts, “the Battlefield”, to playing concerts for sold out crowds in Chicago and New York City, Louis left a massive impact on the way America listened to music for a long time. One of his premier tracks, “West End Blues”, left an impact on jazz music, which other musicians would try to emulate for years.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Washington And W. E. B. Dubois

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Similarities and Differences of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois’s Views During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led

    Read More

  • The Influence of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois on the Writings from the Harlem Renaissance

    2154 Words  | 5 Pages

    Two of the most influential people in shaping the social and political agenda of African Americans were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, both early twentieth century writers. While many of their goals were the same, the two men approached the problems facing African Americans in very different ways. This page is designed to show how these two distinct thinkers and writers shaped one movement, as well as political debate for years afterward.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Black Man Talks Of Reaping And From The Dark Tower

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme throughout the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" is the idea that African American live in an unjust

    Read More

  • Individual Struggles, but Shared Experiences

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...us to our past and remind us across time and space how we are alike, not that we are different” (Transcripts for Poems). These connecting experiences sometime involve the absence of a male figure. They, for Blacks, almost always has value in tragedy as a motivating force, of the most obvious tragedies in slavery. Finally, transcending class, race, or ethnicity is the distortion of history preventing the development of the collective memory.

    Read More

  • (What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue, By Louis Armstrong

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue” altered various components of the original tune as he incorporated several jazz techniques typical of the 1920’s and pulled the piece out of its original context of Broadway. Doing so greatly changed the piece as a whole and its meaning, to call attention to the necessity of civil rights for the black population. Armstrong’s life was not purely devoted to music. As a civil rights advocate for the black population in the U.S., he grabbed the attention of the government through his fame and helped to bring equal rights to his brethren. But at times, Armstrong allowed his actions to undermine the importance of African American civil rights, which created negative sentiments

    Read More

  • Comparing Poems 'I, Too And' Theme For English B

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.

    Read More

  • Black Poetry

    2173 Words  | 5 Pages

    Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.

    Read More

  • Post-Colonial Criticism In Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    Therefore, a post-colonial critic might be interested in Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” where colonial ideology is manifest in the musicians’ attitude towards the racism upon which he tells the lyrics of how he feels, “"I got the Weary Blues And I can 't be satisfied”, The “Weary Blues” symbolizes how he feels because around this era colored folk created the blues to express their feelings in a way for other people to enjoy. The storyteller depicts the artist 's passionate condition as he performs; it takes a descending bearing from creating a "mellow croon" to making "that old piano moan." Balancing the descending development of the performer 's "sad raggy tune," however, is his capacity to make "that poor piano groan with tune." He at long last makes the piano turn into his perfect partner, "that old piano moan" generally as he is doing. The grievance is transformed into a cathartic discharge. To sing and play Blues is to get away from the

    Read More

More about Louis Armstrong Black And Blue Essay

Open Document