The African American Influence on the United States World Cultures 8

Influences  How did African slaves influence the United States?  What areas were influenced?  How were they influenced?

Government  Civil War  was it just about slavery?

Civil War  was about  Slavery  Tariffs  “Manifest Destiny” - ???  State’s rights  Divergent world views

Manifest Destiny – belief of westward expansion of the U.S. (occupy coast to coast)

Tariff/duty – tax on imports

Civil War  Many new ideas from Africa and Europe mixed together to create new and unique ideas  Art: photography  Music – realism + romanticism + folk songs

Musical Background  Africans who were brought to colonial America as slaves found themselves in a totally alien world. They had been removed from their land, their possessions, and all that was familiar to them.

Musical Background  Although they could not carry with them their drums and other instruments, they did bring a most important instrument – the human body. Thus, they had voices with which to sing; they had hands and feet with which to create percussive sounds and rhythmic movement.

Musical Background  Slaves who were not allowed to talk among themselves often communicated through song. Music became an important means of adapting to a new language, a new religion, and a totally foreign way of life.

Musical Background  Black people continued to pour out their innermost feelings through music, as they and their ancestors had done for centuries in Africa. And as they did so in this new world, some completely new kinds of music began to emerge.

Music  polyrhythm  call-and-response – 1 person does something and another person “responds”  think “cheerleaders”  new instruments  banjo  Blues  Jazz  Rock

Music  Rap  R & B  Hip Hop  Gospel  Spirituals

Field Hollers  Slaves working in the corn fields or cotton fields often communicated through song with calls, “cries,” or “hollers.” Some were for help; others for water or food. Some were signals to others. Some were simply expressions of inner feelings of the moment. Sometimes the calls were answered, in the African tradition; sometimes they were not.

Field Hollers  The calls of the field were usually fragments, or bits of melody. The same kinds of song fragments were heard in a new setting after the Civil War, when blacks moved to large cities and began to sell goods in the streets. Wares and services offered by street vendors were many and varied.

Field Hollers 

Blues  Came before jazz  helped “invent” jazz  late 19 th century or 1800’s  came from field/work songs  also from prison songs/chain gang chants  Form of folk music  came from the people (weren’t really professional musicians)

Work Songs  The work songs of early black Americans were much like those they had sung in Africa. Most of these early songs were sung by slaves as they worked in the fields.

Work Songs  After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, blacks began to seek new kinds of jobs. Many who had been farmers started to work on boats, in mines, in lumber camps, in factories, and on railroads. As they worked, new songs were born. Some of these were sung during work, to help pass the time, and to coordinate movements. Others were about work and workers.

Work Songs  (RR)  (Mt)

Blues  The “blues” are musical expressions of a person’s troubles. While spirituals emphasized the hope of a better life after death, blues deal with the realities of life here on earth.

Blues  Blues songs were at first a very personal kind of music, of greatest importance to the singer. After the Civil War, however, when blacks found themselves in a new social and economic situation, the blues changed and gradually became popular as entertainment.

Blues  listening and repeating  couldn’t read music!  oral traditions  changes it!  mostly recreational

Blues  Famous Blues musicians  BB King  Howlin’ Wolf  Muddy Waters

Ragtime  Part of the African heritage of blacks who had been brought to this country as slaves was a love of dancing. Dancing during free time, at work festivals, or for the entertainment of owners was usually accompanied with clapping and foot- stomping. Gradually blacks made or gained access to fiddles and banjos, which were added to the accompaniment.

Ragtime  Following the Civil War, blacks had increasing opportunity to play small organs and pianos. The music they began to play was similar to music they had used for dancing on the plantations. It became known as “rag music,” and later, “ragtime.”

Ragtime 

Jazz  Jazz was the first music that people considered truly “American” music. Jazz has its roots in the blues and ragtime.

Jazz  Many characteristics of African music are found in jazz. Among them are call-and- response patterns, percussion instruments, body-percussion sounds, cross rhythms, and improvisation.

Jazz  Improvisation is a basic ingredient of most jazz. In jazz, the players make up the music as they play it. Jazz is not so much a kind of music as it is a way of performing music. There are many types of jazz.

Jazz  born around 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana  1 st great jazz soloist – Louis Armstrong  Louisiana history  French territory (European influence)  Migration of all types of people  Culture of slavery  Bands from military marching (Europe) + field hollers and blues music = JAZZ  +spirituals and rag time

Jazz  Original style = Dixieland  folk and orchestral instruments  Trombone, cornet, clarinet, banjo, piano, drums  Call-and-response  As it became more popular, it changed or evolved  new instruments  guitar, saxophone, bass  innovations  vocalists

Jazz  Dixieland  Big Band  Crooners  Bebop  Cool jazz  tradition of experimenting and being spontaneous

Dixieland Jazz  The early Dixieland band usually had a cornet, trombone, clarinet, banjo, drums, and sometimes a tuba. The band often marched as it played. Later, the saxophone, trumpet, and piano were added.

Jazz  Charles Mingus –used their music for persuasion  political issues of his time  Fables of Faubus – racism and school integration during Civil Rights movement  No jazz = No hip-hop, no rap, no rock, no Broadway, no Hollywood musicals

Gospel/Spiritual  Christianity was forced on slaves who were not always Christian  slaves put their own traditions into the new religion  field holler  call-and-response  Choral tradition  Congregational singing

Spirituals  The songs of the early slaves expressed not only their troubles, but also their hope of a better life and death. The music that developed was a blend of the rhythms and chants brought from Africa, and the European hymn tunes of the whites. The musical results was a unique kind of song called the “spiritual.”

Spirituals  A spiritual is what the name suggests – a song that has a religious or “spiritual” meaning. Although spirituals originated with black people, there are also white spirituals. It has been said that the spiritual is one of the greatest gifts of black Americans to the world of music.

Spirituals  (Whole World)  (Ppl go)

Gospel  Gospel songs are religious songs that are more recent in origin than spirituals. As black people found themselves in busy, crowded cities early in the 20 th century the spirituals of earlier days did not seem to adequately express the religious feelings of the times. Gospel music became the means of expressing their religious feelings.

Gospel vs. Spiritual Gospel  Composer generally known  Instrumental accompaniment  Polyrhythms are common  Melodies are more complex  Personal expressions of today’s black Americans Spiritual  Folk songs (handed down orally from the slavery era)  Usually “a cappella”  Strong rhythms but not overlapping  Simple melodies (usually)  Usually retelling of biblical stories

Dance  Latin America + U.S.  Salsa  Clave  polyrhythms  Bomba (from Puerto Rico) – Call & Response

Dance  Tango (from Argentina) – African + Portuguese origins  Plantation dances

Plantation Dance

Plantation Dance - Zudio  afriam.arts.music.zudio/ afriam.arts.music.zudio/ afriam.arts.music.zudio/

Drama  Oral tradition - ?  Creation myths  Trickster characters – Anansi, etc.  way to bring the culture with them from Africa

Drama  Slave tales  cunning character  outsmarts those who try to take advantage of him  rhythmic language  great animation in the telling

Drama  Can you see how any of those points/ideas have influenced American drama?  TV shows?  Movies?  Plays?

Drama – Types of Stages

Drama – Stage Directions