The United States of America was in great turmoil during the 1940s. The Great Depression had ended not long ago, and president Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the midst of his third term in office. Despite slavery being abolished in 1865 under the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution, there was still segregation, violent discrimination, and a multitude of other forms of racism present in the country. Due to segregation and other forms of discrimination, it was not uncommon for African Americans to form their own communities, social gatherings, art forms, and other ways of expression. Perhaps among the most important means of expression was music. Music has always been a popular and successful way to spread messages, history, …show more content…
The Jim Crow Era had not come to an end yet. The unfair and unequal treatment of African Americans was different, but not over. Jim Crow was many things, but specifically Jim Crow was “statutory law in the overly white-supremecist states, namely the old Confederacy and the border states… police and the courts enforced the acts of lawmakers, who represented every kind of jurisdiction from municipal and county administrations to school districts and state legislatures…” (Packard, 2002, pp. 163-164). However, Jim Crow was not just built into legislation. Much of Jim Crow was in fact, customary “largely because most African-Americans rather than being commingled with whites in civil society were enslaved and thus came most directly under the control of owners… Over the additional one hundred years that racism held much of America in thrall, the etiquette of Jim Crow became an unbendingly enforced system of social control” (Packard, 164). The lyrics from the song Uncle Sam speak of Jim Crow laws and how the laws made it acceptable for people to discriminate. “Uncle Sam says, ‘your place is on the ground, when I fly my airplanes, don’t want no Negro around’…” Although the United States at this point was post-slavery, the idea of post-racial was long in the future. Many white Americans were unwilling to allow for equal rights. In 1890, Plessy v. Ferguson allowed …show more content…
The song is true to the times, and it is reflective on how many African Americans felt during the 1940s. Although there have been improvements in race relations in the United States since the 1940s because of legislations like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there is still room to grow. Racism is strong and seemingly never-ending because of “its capacity not merely to turn targets of past exploitation into agents in its reproduction but also, almost if by necessity, to turn fellow victims into future targets” (Kahrl, 2012, p. 257). Furthermore, the laws put into place to aid in race relations will never be quite enough. Because of systemic oppression that has built over years, there will continue to be struggles within the African American community. For many, the fact that one is African American may feel like a target on his or her back. Uncle Sam Says recognized the inequality and inequity that took place during the Jim Crow Era and World War II in the United States. The song stayed true to history, and brought awareness to many people about how the inequality was felt by the receiver – like your country only wanted you when it benefited