Introduction
Since the advent of racialized slavery, music has been a safe haven of sorts for Black Americans. In the beginning, in times of slavery, music was used, among other methods, as a means of communication between slaves. As music evolved, it remained an important aspect of black culture in America, from gospel music in black churches, to jazz and other more modern musical styles throughout the early and mid 1900s, and finally to the birth of rap and hip-hop music in the post-Civil Rights Act world. In the words of E. Ethelbert Miller, Howard University’s Director of the Afro-American Studies Resource Center, “African-American music is the soundtrack of African-American history. There’s no way you can discuss African-American history without the soundtrack.”
Music in the Antebellum South
In the times of legal slavery, slaves in the south used spirituals for multiple purposes. The songs in part served to relieve the slaves from boredom during long days in the fields and were a boost to morale. More importantly, however, the songs allowed slaves to communicate forbidden messages without alerting the slave-owners. The …show more content…
Even with the aforementioned missing information, the origin of hip-hop culture can traces back to the majority black and economically struggling South Bronx borough of New York City. Although the first components of hip-hop culture were art forms such as graffiti and break-dancing, rap has been one of the most influential byproducts of hip-hop culture, giving black youth a socially acknowledged voice with which they could speak out against the injustices they faced. Gathering influence from the blues and jazz of the ‘50s and ‘60s, as well as from griots, respected orators, historians, and singers of West Africa, rap consists of spoken rhyme over an often synthesized
Since the advent of racialized slavery, music has been a safe haven of sorts for Black Americans. In the beginning, in times of slavery, music was used, among other methods, as a means of communication between slaves. As music evolved, it remained an important aspect of black culture in America, from gospel music in black churches, to jazz and other more modern musical styles throughout the early and mid 1900s, and finally to the birth of rap and hip-hop music in the post-Civil Rights Act world. In the words of E. Ethelbert Miller, Howard University’s Director of the Afro-American Studies Resource Center, “African-American music is the soundtrack of African-American history. There’s no way you can discuss African-American history without the soundtrack.”
Music in the Antebellum South
In the times of legal slavery, slaves in the south used spirituals for multiple purposes. The songs in part served to relieve the slaves from boredom during long days in the fields and were a boost to morale. More importantly, however, the songs allowed slaves to communicate forbidden messages without alerting the slave-owners. The …show more content…
Even with the aforementioned missing information, the origin of hip-hop culture can traces back to the majority black and economically struggling South Bronx borough of New York City. Although the first components of hip-hop culture were art forms such as graffiti and break-dancing, rap has been one of the most influential byproducts of hip-hop culture, giving black youth a socially acknowledged voice with which they could speak out against the injustices they faced. Gathering influence from the blues and jazz of the ‘50s and ‘60s, as well as from griots, respected orators, historians, and singers of West Africa, rap consists of spoken rhyme over an often synthesized