In the minds of the general population many would argue that the most significant part of any piece of literary, artistic, or vocal work is the title. The title often times resonates through the heart of an audience, while simultaneously imprinting specific emotions and thoughts in their psyche. In Lawrence Levine’s “The Quest for Certainty”, the title is used to address the motivation enslaved African-Americans possessed in which they ultimately utilized to create sacred music. An understanding of the title “The Quest for Certainty” needs to first be analyzed in a contextual manner, to understand its power. Quest is defined as “a long or arduous search for something” . This “something” that quest is referring to in context of African-American slavery is freedom. …show more content…
The second portion of the title, “certainty”, reinforces the importance of the search for freedom. Certainty is defined as “a fact that is definitely true or an event that is definitely going to take place” . Certainty of freedom, broken down into colloquial terms must mean that enslaved African-Americans believed that the event of definitive freedom would eventually come to fruition. These two words work in concert with one another to paint a picture of the journey African-Americans took to achieve freedom in which they employed sacred music to assist in their goal. Slaves created sacred music to assure themselves of a strong community and to critique slavery, as a means of creating certainty of ultimate freedom for the near future. Levine’s mindset is crucial in regards to analyzing the power of sacred music, and through his words I hope to shine light to a generation of individuals who found certainty in
Joan Baez, a famous folk singer, sang her most famous song “Oh Freedom” during the civil rights movement. She expressed her want and need for equality and freedom f...
Patterson, Foner, and King all describe their typological analysis of Freedom in three uniquely different ways.
In Eric Foner’s book, The Story of American Freedom, he writes a historical monograph about how liberty came to be. In the book, his argument does not focus on one fixed definition of freedom like others are tempted to do. Unlike others, Foner describes liberty as an ever changing entity; its definition is fluid and does not change in a linear progress. While others portray liberty as a pre-determined concept and gradually getting better, Foner argues the very history of liberty is constantly reshaping the definition of liberty, itself. Essentially, the multiple and conflicting views on liberty has always been a “terrain of conflict” and has changed in time (Foner xv).
In the novel Song Yet Sung by McBride’s has suggested that once limitation is placed on an individual, such as race and gender, Individuals then face hindrance to the privileges and access to the American dream. McBride’s idea of limitation is prominent during the time of slavery for African Americans, as these same limitations are present during the twenty first century.
Before beginning to analyze both Motown and Stax Record’s influence on black consciousness it must first be understood why black consciousness itself can be seen as a step in the right direction in the fight against black struggle. Brian Ward does a great job of capturing the true success of soul music’s influence on black consciousness. Ward says, “[Black radio’s] real strength… was its ability to dramatize and celebrate shared aspects of the black experience… to promote a revived sense of black identity, pride, solidarity and common consciousness” (Ward 449). In his book, Ward also points out that despite this successful development of black consciousness, there was limited success both economically and structurally on behalf of the black music industry. This shows that even though ther...
Therefore, to endure the pains and sufferings the slaves had to use music. As illustrated above, the advent of music had far reaching results as it encouraged and gave them hope to continue working. The early music composers are the evidence of existence of early music which in turn has shaped today’s music like the blues and pop lyrics. In this case, the culture of the past has been rescued from getting lost.
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
(H) Freedom is something many crave and fight for. (CS) Freedom has copious attributes and qualities that are present in “Revolution 2.0” by Wael Ghonim, “The Letter from Birmingham” by Martin Luther King Junior, and the ‘Speech at the March on Washington” by Josephine Baker. (G1) Using speech is a glorious way to show your freedom. (G2) People have to be equal to really be free. (G3) Respect is another major quality of freedom. (TH) Speech, equality, and respect all constitute freedom.
Many people would argue that the most important, most significant part of any piece of literary, artistic, or vocal work is the title. The title often times resonates through the minds of an audience; simultaneously, this essential feature of any piece of work imprints specific emotions and thoughts in the psyche of an author’s captivators. In Lawrence Levine’s “The Quest for Certainty”, the title is used to address the motivation enslaved African-Americans of generations ago possessed that ultimately was utilized to create sacred music. Validation in one’s identity is not something everyone in this world can attribute to owning. Individuals from the inception of time to now have always questioned their existence and purpose, and the lives
Throughout history freedom has had many different meanings and definitions; based on race, gender, and ethnicity. According to the dictionary freedom means the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint (“freedom” def. 1). Freedom may seem like something given to everyone however it was something workers had to fight for. Not everyone believed that workers’ rights needed to be changed, which led to a long battle between workers, employers and the government. To the working class people freedom meant making higher wages, having regulated hours, workable conditions and the right to free speech.
Nothing in life is guaranteed, but the one thing that humans demand is freedom. Throughout history, there are countless cases where groups of people fought for their freedom. They fought their battles in strongly heated debates, protests, and at its worst, war. Under the assumption that the oppressors live in complete power, the oppressed continuously try to escape from their oppressors in order to claim what is rightfully theirs: the freedom of choice. In Emily Dickinson’s poems #280, #435, and #732 and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, freedom is represented by an individual’s ability to make their own decisions without the guidance, consultation, or outside opinion of others in order to find their true sense of self. Once an individual is physically and spiritually free, they can find their true sense of self.
Freedom is defined as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. In An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs, Chief Joseph petitions for freedom. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is a call for freedom. The texts written by Chief Joseph and King share many similar philosophies because the situations faced by two cultures, which are embodied in the texts, are similar. Chief Joseph represents a group of Native Americans who are restricted to land that they do not covet. Euro-Americans use lies and armed forces to press the Native Americans off desired territories and onto wastelands. King represents African-Americans who were neglected the rights and opportunity white people owned. King’s speech addresses the fact that African-Americans were held down with violence and segregation. Chief Joseph’s narrative focuses on the issue of broken promises by dominant Euro-Americans. In the end of these two proclamations, both the authors ask for the key to freedom, equality. Chief Joseph’s Narrative and Martin Luther King’s Speech share numerous ideals that all relate to the two culture’s struggles for freedom, while the two contrast because these movements are not completely the same.
As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues
Sir Isaiah Berlin's Analysis of Freedom in Two Concepts of Liberty. Sir Isaiah Berlin is the author of one of the most important works on political philosophy written in the twentieth century - Two Concepts of Liberty. In the essay, he distinguishes between two types of liberty. The sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial Negative liberty is simply being left alone to do whatever.
Freedom is a human value that has inspired many poets, politicians, spiritual leaders, and philosophers for centuries. Poets have rhapsodized about freedom for centuries. Politicians present the utopian view that a perfect society would be one where we all live in freedom, and spiritual leaders teach that life is a spiritual journey leading the soul to unite with God, thus achieving ultimate freedom and happiness. In addition, we have the philosophers who perceive freedom as an inseparable part of our nature, and spend their lives questioning the concept of freedom and attempting to understand it (Transformative Dialogue, n.d.).