...Lederrick Wesley December 11, 2008 Special Projects Dr. Karin Sehmann The History and Evolution of Gospel Music The culture of African Americans dates back to the beginning of times in Africa. So many things were carried across the world such as culture, art, music, and different cultural practices. The music of African Americans has transcended across different cultures. Gospel music is one of the sacred forms of music for African Americans. This is one of the hottest music genres currently out, and it is not only meant to relay a message to people but change their hearts in the process and help people endure positive out takes on life. Gospel music has a long rich tradition with great contributors such as Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Kirk Franklin. Things such as gospel music workshops and conventions exist today to educate individuals on this peculiar style of music. Recently, I held a gospel music workshop and many things were involved in putting it together. The following paper will discuss my research on the evolution of gospel music and elaborate more on why I decided to do a gospel music workshop. African American gospel music has been implemented with secular and non-African American elements. This has caused many individuals to wonder “what is gospel music?” This musical phenomenon has moved beyond the walls of the “black church” and includes many aspects (Wise 1). Gospel music can be defined from a cultural, spiritual, or...
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...music including rock, jazz, country, soul, and more. 4. Brown, Ruth, and Andrew Yule. Miss Rhythm: The Autobiography of Ruth Brown, Rhythm and Blues Legend. New York: D.I. Fine, 1996. Print. a. Tony Award winner Ruth Brown is a rhythm-and-blues revolutionary, a woman whose early successes earned her instant worldwide fame and launched a career that has influenced such legendary performers as Aretha Franklin, Dinah Washington, Little Richard and Stevie Wonder. This candid autobiography offers the true story of her extraordinary life and career. 5. Burnim, Mellonee V., and Portia K. Maultsby. African American Music: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print. a. is a collection of thirty essays by leading scholars whch survey major African American musical genres, both sacred and secular, from slavery to the present. The work brings together, in a single volume, treatments of African...
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...IWT Task 1 (0813) This paper will analyze, critique, and help us to understand the music of the Harlem Renaissance and the Pop Art periods. The social conditions that influenced the art and the characteristics of the artists’ style were in many ways similar; however, with advancing technology, they had differing struggles to overcome. The Harlem Renaissance was sparked by the Great Migration from 1919 – 1926 in which African Americans began moving to northern cities to find employment and a better way of life. The musicians of this era were very influential in renewing the culture and history of the United States. Jazz, race, and class divided Harlem and New York cities. Some historians have said the best way to understand the Harlem Renaissance is by understanding the music (http://historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.com/index.html; www.1920s-fashion-and-music.com/Harlem-Renaissance-1920s.html). With the roots of jazz coming from slave songs, it is truly an African-American invention. This newly formed music utilized the dissonant “blue” note. This modification to the to the standard major scale allowed the musician to play the note flat; usually the third, fifth, or seventh note of the scale. Music critic Sidney Finkelstein stated, “It expresses the hope and struggle for freedom, the vitality which enables a people to wrest joy out of misery and to assert the triumph of human beings over the obstacles that would grind them down.” ("MindEdge," 2014) Jazz was the sound...
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...Harlem Renaissance. Why the period of American history from is 1919-1940 called the Harlem Renaissance? What makes it significant to African –American culture? What was the “common source” that inspired black artists during this period? The Harlem Renaissance was first named the movement. It was named Harlem because of its location (Harlem, New York). It was the hub of were black people could express their creativity involving the arts. Blues, Jazz, poetry and art were the main focus during that period. In addition, they also was allowed to express their social views about race or taboo without repercussion from white society. This time period is where the great poets such as Langston Hughes and author Zora Hurston could freely express themselves. Their common ground was to boldly create expressive art without boundaries exemplyfing their social conditions with dignity and humility despite their struggles. What is your favorite poem by Langton Hughes? My favorite poem is called I, Too. Langston sends a strong message to white America. He is saying, I laugh at you for separating yourself from me because of the color of my skin. I too am an American. How dare you send me to the back because of my skin tone, I will not go. I will stand strong were you can see me. I am beautiful and I will stand her and not be moveable so you can see just how beautiful my blackness is. You see, I am an American just like you. This poem is powerful. Langston Hughes...
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...own life living in Eatonville, Florida, was the first organized self-government African American community. Many people saw the African American community as racism and segregation. Hurston implies that the nicest people she met in her early stages were whites who showed her compassion. According to her official website Zora Neale Hurston, “Dust Tracks on a Road, was her account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural south to a prominent place among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.” Many people viewed Dust Tracks on a Road, as a fantasy life she idealized not the actual truth. While others believed in Hurston’s portrayal. Zora Neale Hurston was the fifth of eight children of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, on January 7, 1891. When she was 3 years old, her family moved to Eatonville, Florida. Zora Neale Hurston felt like Eatonville was “home” so she claimed it as her birthplace. Hurston glorify it in her stories as a place where African Americans could live as they desired, independent of white society, once her father became mayor. She would later call Eatonville, Florida a utopia. Hurston's childhood in this all black environment may have shaped her later views on race. Zora Neale Hurston represented Eatonville as a perfect place in reality. It was a Negro town, a self sufficient, independent place, filled with African American pride. She didn’t felt the same way as all the rest of black people...
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...Harlem’s Own Language ------------------------------------------------- Carole Boyce Davies Jordan Young Harlem’s Own Language ------------------------------------------------- Carole Boyce Davies Jordan Young Harlem’s Own Language “Story in Harlem Slang” by Zora Neale Hurston is written entirely in Harlemese. It contains a three-page appendix, at the end of the story, with the translated slang she used to aid the reader. Harlemese is used to describe things taking place in Harlem and to create a sense that Harlem is its own place, almost a country inside of a country for Blacks. During this time many Blacks believed that living in the North was much better than living in the Jim Crow consumed south. The idea that Zora Neale Hurston centers the story around is the idea that the North is not necessarily better than the South for blacks for various reasons like poverty and other hardships Blacks encountered by “Russian” or running to the North. “Story in Harlem Slang” begins with Jelly who is a pimp. A pimp in Zora Neale Hurston’s slang is a male prostitute. Jelly is all about pleasuring women in exchange for food, money and weed. Because pimping is not easy and it is hard for him to find food Jelly wakes up late to avoid “dirtying plates”. Jelly throws on his zoot suit and heads to the corner where he proceeds to find women to pleasure so he can feed himself and his desire for “scrap-iron” and “reefer” which are liquor and weed respectively. Jelly spots one of his...
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...2/14/12 AFAS 160D1 Dr. Yuxuf Abana Essay # 1 The value of language The Norton anthology of African American literature book, does a great job in describing the uniqueness of the early African American language, as the roots for the spiritual and the secular forms of the African American vernacular. But for one to understand the African American vernacular, one must understand how the language was created. The language of the early Africans that occupied north America was unique to only this ethical group, because they where the only forms of Africans in that time that spoke a kind of language that was broken English or formally called “Pidgin” which is known as the language of the slaves. Lets take a look at the active definition for pidgin, so we can come to a clear understanding of the word before we progress further in the paper: “A simplified form of speech that is usually a mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or native language. Also called contact language.”(pidgin online) so contact language is the language first spoken or developed when the Africans where first In America. The language was created due to the direct result of the times being that Africans by law where not allowed to be educated or to be treated like anything other then a slave, no social interactions...
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...September 2nd, 1891. He is mostly known for his work colorful portraying African Americans in many activities in the 1920s and 1930s such as, dancing in nightclubs and social gatherings. Motley had a strong fascination with the variety of skin tones and he painted many African American women with varying blood qualities (mulatos, octoroon, ect.). With his focus on the variety of skin tones, it is said that Motley celebrated skin tones as something to be diverse and something that made the black community feel ore inclusive with one another. Motley is said to be one of the many contributors of artwork during the Harlem renaissance. However, Motley was not born in Harlem nor did he grow up in Harlem. Motley was actually a New Orleans native, but spent majority of his time in Chicago. With his family being the only black family in a predominately European neighborhood, plus his the type of social class he was a part of, Motley was able to benefit from art training at the Art Institute of Chicago. However, since he lived in a particular neighbor hood, it wasn’t one that was in touch with the actual black culture. Motley actually had to travel to the inner parts of Chicago to actually observe the high impact of jazz on the social, and cultural aspect of African American life. His training later benefited him in the long run, after he was able to receive his own person exhibit in New York City, and also being the only African American to do so during this era. A year before he decided that...
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...Setting Analysis Sonny's Blues Sonny's Blues takes place in Harlem, New York. The story unfolds during the 1950's which was a time frame that swept the African American community into a downward spiral. This period followed the Harlem Renaissance and although that historical event ended after the 1920's, the effects on the black community were still very prevalent factor. Musicians, poets, writers and other creatives still managed to flourish. On the contrary, poverty stricken neighborhoods consumed by drug activity, prostitution, racism and scarce resources seemed to have impacted the majority throughout the city. This may have been a result from the continuation of oppression that blacks experienced from the residuals of The Great Depression and The Great Migration. The author vividly describes Harlem in a sober manner. Poverty is the clearest painted picture. One can picture homeless people walking about, trash filled streets and numerous people in a state of stagnation, just standing outside roaming. There sounds of hopelessness and lost souls can be heard as the unnamed narrator describes the condition of Harlem at that time. When his brother goes away to jail, the disappointment rattles through his voice. The conversation with Sonny's drug addicted friend yields a sense of sympathy and disgust at the same time. Upon Sonny's return, the narrator depicts Harlem as a place of entrapment. He was bringing his brother “back into the danger he had almost died trying...
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...Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) by Thomas F. DeFrantz Alvin Ailey, the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1958-), galvanized and stabilized an African American presence in theatrical dance. An outstanding performer, choreographer, company director, and mentor to scores of dance artists, Ailey oversaw the growth of his small, pick-up group of seven dancers into a large, carefully managed, internationally-renowned enterprise including several ensembles of dancers and a thriving school in New York City housed in the largest building devoted to dance in the United States. Along the way, Ailey changed the landscape of modern dance by developing new audiences for its performance through a consistent combination of exceptional artistry and wellcoordinated community outreach programs. In all, Ailey invigorated the art of dance with his distinctive creative imagination, his “blood memories” of cultural formations he witnessed as a child-- including the jook joint and the black church --and the strong survivalist ethic he learned as an African American man born in the depression-era South. Emergence into Dance Born in Rogers, Texas, the only child of workingclass parents who separated when he was two, Ailey moved with his mother to Los Angeles in 1942. Shy from his itinerant Texas life, Ailey reluctantly turned to dance when a high-school classmate introduced him to Lester Horton's Hollywood studio in 1949. In dance, he found the terms of self-expression that high school athletics...
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...artist that has made an impact in today’s music and not only that, how African American music has affected history of our heritage. Soul music is gospel-influenced African American popular music style that began to emerge in the late 1950s and became popular during the 1960s. (Maultsby, 277) There were many artist back in the day that made soul music very influential Ray Charles and James Brown was known for the similarity of having a black gospel back ground then transforming their sound into blues that lead to the sound of “soul music”. When the artist Sam Cook released a song call “A Change Is Gonna Come” it had a huge impact on the society because this was the time around the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement is a movement beginning in the late 1940s and blossoming in the late 1950s to the mid-1960s that pushed for equal rights for African Americans. (Maultsby, 277) In the year of 1964 when Cooks song came out he had died and there was a signing of the Civil Rights Act. Many people thought the song “A Change Is Gonna Come” had marked from rhythm and blues to soul. This songs is known as a gospel style. By just these three men singing the types of songs that were passionate about made a tremendous impact on how the world look at soul music today. Soul music is what I believe brings families together because all ages know some soul music and it makes each person feel good inside. African American history has affected our heritage in many different ways such...
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...Nina Wohl Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences AHIS W4855 African American Artists in the 20th and 21st Centuries Spring 2012 Research Paper – African American Art & the Great Depression The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn of the twentieth century. The federal government took unprecedented action to provide relief, recovery and reform. No group was harder hit by the Great Depression than African Americans. The New Deal was slow to deal with the unique situation faced by African Americans. The struggles of the Great Depression laid the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Art would play an important role in influencing the future. Despite its limitations, the New Deal, through the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Federal Arts Program (FAP), was responsible for reshaping the cultural agenda and “marked a significant turning point in the production of black culture.”1 The artists of the Great Depression built upon the work done during the Harlem Renaissance. New Deal art extended and affirmed art that translated “politics into cultural terms.”2 The FAP looked for a “new sense of authentic American culture – one that championed national values and traditions by celebrating regional and racial diversity.”3 As a result, many artists worked to place African Americans in the historical narrative of the United States while combating long held stereotypes. None were less important than Aaron Douglas...
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...thinkers. There are numerous contributors in various fields such as technology, philosophy, theology, mythology, science and art. The focus of this paper is on two creative thinkers in the fields of theology and art, James Hal Cane and Ai Weiwei. Both of them have made tremendous contributions to their specialized fields and have sort solutions to various problems in they identified. This paper covers their ideas/contributions, journey of creativity and how they impacted their fields of specialization. James Hal Cone is a theologian famously known for advocating for Black liberation theology. This kind of theology relates to the experience of African Americans, Black culture and history. It was to put Christianity in a context that would help African American people overcome oppression. He sought to deal with questions raised by African Americans in relation to the bible. He has also written a number of books including; Black Theology and Black Power (1969), and For My People: Black Theology and The Black Church. Currently, Hal is the Charter Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Ai Weiwei is a Chinese activist and contemporary artist. He is famous for his architectural projects, sculptural installations and his open criticism of the Chinese government. Ai also uses videos and photographs to express his art. He collaborated with other writers on books promoting avant-garde Chinese art. He kept on suggesting...
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...1. Review the timeline for the Literature of the Harlem Renaissance 1919-1940 on pp. 1377-1378 of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature and identify what you believe are three primary events that occurred and explain why you believe they had a significant impact on the period. The three primary event is: a. In 1919 W.E.B. Dubois organized first Pan American Congress in Paris. b. In 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. c. In 1923 – 33 the Harlem Renaissance The three events had a significant impact because women could not vote in the election as men could and vote their opinions on who they want as President. The Harlem Renaissance was a rebirth and express of African American culture as...
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...A critical time of cultural renewal in American history is the Harlem Renaissance, a time between the 1920’s and 1930’s in which African Americans became aware of their identities and embraced their heritage through a series of positive images through arts and culture. In the early 20th century, African Americans began moving North in order to escape the economically unstable South in a moment in history called the Great Migration. Through this, many African Americans fled to large cities like New York City and Chicago where it was urbanized and they had more opportunities for careers. In this time of renewal, African Americans rejected their status of the time and stereotype that came along with it, taking on the term “New Negro”, which represented...
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