African-American Music

Term Paper # 74835

African-American Studies
History > U.S. After 1865
Music Studies > Blues, Jazz

An analysis of role of music in the 20th century black American community.

1,908 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

Music, as a man-made artistic form, has always been cited as an interesting form of expression and pastime in civilizations old and new across the globe. Every culture has forms of music they feel closer to, music that they feel is more relevant. This paper discusses the music the black community felt closer to and uses events in the twentieth century such as the Great Depression, civil rights movement and the LA riots to explain why the relationship between black culture and music developed the way it did.

From the Paper:

"The market for blues records was almost completely black throughout the twenties and thirties and they eventually came to be known as "race records." ("History of Blues") The success of another black art form that remained black brought about a new change in the white mainstream record companies--they began to market to blacks and actively recruited black blues artists for their labels. ("History of Blues") It wasn't much at the start but it was a good change for the black musical community. It didn't do anything to improve the black standard of living, though, as was later demonstrated."