Minstrelsy Influence On American Culture

In this book, Jeffrey Ogbar talks about the beginning of rap, where it started, some of the artists of this genre and some of the controversial topics the artists rap about. He also talks about the usage of the N word as well as men calling women the B word. In the first chapter of the book, Ogbar contextualizes the debate by talking about the history of the minstrel figure in American popular culture, relying mainly on the work of W. T. Lhamon and Patricia Hill Collins. He talks about how the earliest manifestations of hip-hop music in the 1970s came from the Black Power movement and often included direct rejections of minstrel tropes for example in the artist KRS-One’s song “My Philosophy”. Before going on a chronological study of the internal debates that many rappers have over their relationships with the minstrel trope, Ogbar finds the source of the debate in early twentieth-century black writers’, mainly W.E.B Du Bois, interest in elevating many portrayals of African Americans in the arts, versus Harlem Renaissance writers’ rejection of the emphasis on

African slaves had influenced the United States with culture and work practices which impacted both the Northern and Southern economy during through the 16th and 19th centuries. Upon arriving in America, slaves were not just people in the minds of most colonists, but a tool to promote economic achievements thrusting American imports and exports on the world stage. Their culture as farmers and their ability to work and cultivate in extremely hot temperatures made the African people suitable for American agricultural needs. However, what made them appropriate for slavery was also combined in the belief that they were born with low academic abilities and their enteral submissive nature made that population perfect for the institution of slavery.

The rise of Soul music was a product of the particular environment of that time in which the musicians who created it lived, a period much paralleled with the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) and Black Power Movement (BPM) (Maultsby, 1983, 54). The objective of this research was to examine any existence of political and social messages delivered in Soul music around the civil rights movement era in America, which would lead to a better understanding of the role of Soul music having served in the process of political and social changes in the country.

Music is a creative art form that allows the artist to construct something that expresses a purpose. It evolves over time and changes as the world changes, taking on many different motivations behind the melody and lyrics. In today’s society, anger, oppression, racism, and negative opinions rule the media and popular culture. I believe that African Americans need to show their self worth and not let white people hold them back. With the music in white culture often mocking African American culture and portraying negative stereotypes, African Americans have to find ways to gain respect. In acknowledgement of the negative portrayal of their culture, African Americans respond by creating songs and videos that express their pride in their culture and heritage, react to white oppression, and communicate their independence.

appeared, and the 1870's, the minstrel show was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in America. White performers wearing burnt cork or black shoe polish on their faces assumed the roles of African American men and women. A typical minstrel show would have songs, dances, jokes and grand hoe-downs. The minstrel show tried to capture the "happy-go-lucky" slave that ate watermelon and shuffled about. However, this idea of the "happy slave" was very wrong. Since this was before the civil rights movement, African Americans were caricatured and often stereotyped as the lazy, shuffling,

In the 1800s, minstrel shows took America by storm. These shows demonstrated characteristics of African-Americans that confirmed stereotypes that many whites believed at the time. Several characteristics were over exaggerated through characters. One character in particular, Zip Coon, was an extremely dehumanizing stereotype. At first, Zip Coon was an arrogant individual who would try to be high class but was too ignorant. Ultimately, Zip Coon combined with Jim Crow to create the “coon” stereotype.

Another consequence that result from this lack of “race consciousness” is his interaction with black music and culture. As Robert B. Stepto argues in “Lost in a Quest,” the ECM is “caught…in a kind of illiteracy that argues that technique can pass for art…[mistaking] the modulation and exploitation of race rituals along the color line for proper relations between artist and audience” (368). Additionally, Stepto argues that the ECM, “alienated from the deepest bonds of his race…learns to play music without reference to who is ‘in the other room’” (368). Ragtime, as Edward A. Berlin states in Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History, derived from “the ‘coon song,’ a Negro dialect song frequently, but not always, of an offensively denigrating nature” (205). As someone who has “dreams of bringing glory and honor to the Negro race” (Johnson 26), it is very problematic for the narrator not understand the cultural and racial significance of the music he wants to play. For himself, he fails to gain any real understanding and he becomes, as Stepto says, “a

This paper addresses the identity that is constructed of African-Americans through Rock’s language use of racial speech and taboo language. It also attempts to portray Rock’s function of the skit and the controversial attitudes that arose, including my own.

White minstrel actually used to visit plantations to study the way blacks interacted with each other. When performing, these white Minstrels would take coal and color their faces black. Their performances consisted of skits that including music and dance routines , which imitated blacks. Initially minstrelsies weren’t brought about with the pure intent of poking fun at Blacks. But after the Civil War things changed. Whites stopped visiting the plantation for new material. They began to use the same negative material over and over again. This is what gave birth to many of the Stereotypes that African Americans are victim to, even today. James Bland was one of the African Americans who gained popularity by performing and composing in the black face. After being a part of white minstrelsies, Bland eventually had the opportunity to play in an all black Minstrel called Haverly's European Minstrel Show. After the performers departed from that group, Bland decided to stay in Europe While living in Europe Bland was allowed to perform in shows without having to put on the “black face”. He became extremely popular. Eventually he returned to the U.S. where he couldn’t fit in because American Music had taken a turn since the time that he left. Another group of people that also tried to sing (what I’ll call) “acceptable” music are The

Blackface performances were popular in American theaters for roughly 100 years, beginning around the 1830’s. In 1950’s blackface minstrel shows, white and black performers were not able to share the stage therefore they opted to paint their faces black with polish. These “black” characters were always portrayed as either villains or comedic. Blackface had been used to make arguments for slavery and why African Americans should not be given full human rights. These are narratives created by white men that were made to oppress and dehumanize an entire race of people. The minstrel show clip titled “Cotton and Chick Watts Blackface Minstrel Show Comedy” we are shown a very degrading performance put on by two white

“Come listen all you galls and boys I’s jist from Tuckyhoe, I–m going to sing a little song, my name’s Jim Crow, Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb–ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow.” Thomas “Daddy” Rice, a popular white entertainer during the 1800’s, foolishly pranced around while singing this tune, aptly titled “Jump Jim Crow”, imitating African American plantation workers in a derogatory and undignified manner. Before long, the Jim Crow character and his song, dehumanizing blacks by portraying them as inferior, weak, and ignorant, became popular in the southern states. Years later, at the end of Reconstruction, after the

The life of African Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries has been a truly storied past. One of the most astonishing aspects of African American life, in this period, is the degree to which it was heterogeneous. The experiences of African Americans differed widely based on geographic location, class, gender, religion, and age. Despite a high degree of variability in the experiences of Blacks in America, if one were to consider the sociopolitical fact that Black people as a group in America were a subordinate caste in dominant society, then it becomes possible to make certain overarching connections. One such connection is the presence of secretive subversive ideologies and actions. The existence of these secretive subversive activities is apparent if one examines the labor tendencies, the folklore, and the outward societal projections of black people. By briefly examining the labor practices of Black women in Atlanta during the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, The Uncle Remus tales, and cultural icon Louis Armstrong, one can deduce that secretive subversive actions and beliefs were an integrated aspect of Black existence during this period.

The Evolution of Blackface: Minstrelsy in the 19th and 20th Century - Present Day Thesis: From society’s positive conception of its whimsical beginnings, to its rapid downfall from its overwhelming negative relationship with slavery and racism, blackface has been a prominent form of entertainment in the media for several centuries. Origin of Blackface/ How Blackface was Established in Minstrelsy (Who usually performed in blackface/ how performers acted while in blackface) (EXPLAIN WHAT MINSTREL SHOWS ARE COMPOSED OF)All it took was dark makeup (usually composed of burnt cork) on the face, and sometimes the lips were painted lighter as well in order to accentuate the black makeup. Blackface became popular in the United States through its use in minstrel shows; however, the act of blackening ones face was not an unusual act in America during slavery. Many performers have used blackface as a form of entertainment for a number of decades prior to its well-known introduction in minstrelsy.

In the 1840’s, minstrel shows were developed from the European traditions of masks and carnival (Guarnino and Oliver). The blackface phenomenon was known as the white and African Americans performers dressed up wearing black masks (Guarnino and Oliver). They would impersonate the African American dance forms; minstrel shows were the “…First emanation of a pervasive and purely American mass culture” as well as the heart of the nineteenth century (Guarnino and Oliver). Vaudeville was first a

The broadcasting and recording industries did not solely represent the conquering racial assumptions of the 1950's, they internalized them and helped to continue them. Racial conventions permeated the organization and structure of the music industry at every level. The very existence