Taking a Look at Marian Anderson

Eileen Southern’s The Music of Black Americans: A History she examines the influence that African Americans had in the holiness churches in music and worship. She initially starts with the landing of the first Africans to the colonies and she creates a phenomenal conversation of the musicians in the new world. She details the progression in the gospel, classical, jazz, rap, blues and the contributions they made.

“On Broadway, although some female roles are narrow, demeaning, passive, or long-suffering and convey weakness, the performer sings with incredible strength. Listening to the female singing voice is a more complicated phenomenon. Visually, the character singing is the passive object of our gaze. But aurally, she is resonant; her musical speech drowns out everything in range. A singer, more than any other musical performer, stands before us having wrested the composing voice away from the lyricist and composer who wrote the score.” Said Musicologist Carolyn Abbate (Wolf, p.31)

Two women from two different backgrounds have so much in common yet they are so different. One grew up in Houston, Texas while the other grew up in Saint Michael, Barbados. Even though these two women have had very different up bringing the one thing they have in common is their great voices. These two women’s background, musical style, and other career ventures make them both two of the best female artist in their field.

African American influence in music has been an ever present and controversial subject in American history. Stemming from many different cultures, religions and backgrounds, large portions of American music was introduced by, and credited to African Americans. Although in many cases, this music was used for entertainment by the masses or majority, contrary to popular belief, black music served a greater purpose than just recreation. Dating all the way back to the beginning of slavery in the U.S. during the 17th century, music has been used to make a statement and send a message. As African American music progressed over the years, there were common themes expressed as the genres evolved. It has been an open letter to the world, documenting and protesting the ongoing oppression faced by blacks in the United States, as well as an outlet for frustration. For many African Americans, the music gave them the only voice that couldn’t be silenced by their oppressors.

Women’s music came from radical, grassroots origins in the 1970s thanks to contributions by brave women, mostly lesbians (Mosbacher, 2002). These women used non-violent, peaceful force to forge their own way into the music industry. It was a peaceful yet political revolution of togetherness and liberation. It brought together women of different backgrounds who produced easy-listening, mellow harmonies played with lyrics filled with tumultuous

On February 15, 1820, Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams Massachusetts to Lucy and Daniel Anthony. Susan out of eight children was raised in a strict Quaker family. Her father, Daniel Anthony, was a very rigid man, a Quaker cotton manufacturer and abolitionist. He believed in making sure children were guided right, not targeting them. Her father did not let his kids experience the childish enjoyments of toys, games, and music, because all of those above were seen as distractions from the Inner Light. Instead her father imposed self-discipline.

The woman who has influenced so many and has become an icon in the music industry. Whitney was born in a musical family who was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, cousin of singing star Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of soul legend Aretha Franklin. By the age of 22, Whitney became one the greatest female voices of her generation. Whitney was an artists who came alive and was able to express herself in full confidence when she was singing. When she performed she always look as though she was understood, at peace, and full of joy when she would sing. Houston was a beautiful woman with a powerhouse voice within her petite body, she had a way of making the audience respond in awe and pay

Josephine Baker reached the height of her fame during the 1920s, however, she still was not able to speak about her work and explain what her performances were trying to convey. This left the audience to decipher the performances for themselves, while doing so this highlighted the racism that was still apparent in France. In Phyllis Rose’s book ‘Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Time’ She shows quotes from the tabloids saying, “We can’t find a way to tie the scenes together, but everything we’ve ever read flashes across our enchanted minds...glimpses of enormous steamboats swallowing clusters of Negros who carry rich burdens”. (Rose, 1991) The Parisians visiting Bakers show at the Revue Negre interpreted her show based on what they understood Africa to be. Baker was able to make a lasting impact with her unique look and style and was able to entertain crowds with her “rubber legs” (Rose, 1991) and “crossed eyes” (Rose, 1991) during a time in which racism was the norm. While “she did not exercise complete control over her own image” (Jules-Rosette 2007) she used the stage as a way of expressing herself which she could not do with her voice. In doing so Baker has influenced many performers today. Most notably she inspired Beyoncé Knowles.

Carole King is a musical icon in the world of 20th century popular music, and her longevity and success as an artist have cemented her as one of the influential musicians out of every genre of music. In this essay, I will examine how her musical style and female identity each played roles her incredibly successful musical career.

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey is a pivotal figure in the history of American music. She was the first person to ever perform blues and the first internationally known African American female blues singer. Her music acted as inspiration for many distinguished figures during the Harlem Renaissance, and continues to influence contemporary music and art.

African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called “black music.” African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is to answer three main questions. What are the origins of African American religious music? How did this musical expression develop into a secular form of music? What is the future of African American religious music? These questions will be answered through factual research of African American traditions, artists, and various other sources.

In the twenty first century there are a few men in this world that admits when you think of artist, you don’t typically think of women. Women rights and racism play a strong role when it comes to African American female artist. For decades’ African American woman have always had a permanent double bull’s eye on their back. Their skin and gender was their worst enemy. In the 1700 century women rights movements started to rise. But if you look up women right movements starting in the 1700 century, the face of women rights is predominantly white women. Between books and the internet, they show that it was mostly white women who helped woman rights. If we still struggle to shine light on African American Women now in the 21st century, you cannot

Jackson’s article seemed to portray Price as more than just a composer, but rather as a woman who successfully and honorably acquired a special talent – music. Her knowledge about Price’s life and the events that occurred during that particular era seemed to be extremely abundant. There were several mentions of historical events such as the great Chicago fire of 1871, political references, and World War I, which enhance the ambiance. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that she over did it a bit. I realize that her objective is to “…assess the cultural world in which she [Florence] grew up, her own life and professional career in Little Rock and Chicago, and the present states of study about her”, but during the course of the article, I found myself straying away from the main idea. As if I were loosing track of the importance if the musician herself, and focusing more on the intimate details that Jackson described. I assume that her purpose for inserting such irrelevant points or topics and then elaborating on them is to capture a sense of reality and cultural sympathy. Which, in a way did exactly that, but I soon became uninterested and had to force myself to continue reading.

This judgment began unexpectedly to spread as African American music, especially the blues and jazz, became a worldwide sensation. Black music provided the pulse of the Harlem Renaissance and of the Jazz Age more generally. The rise of the “race records” industry, beginning with OKeh’s recording of Mamie Smith’s

Throughout this course we discussed the Jazz Age, cultural appropriation, racial and gender differences, and African Americans and Parisians during the interwar years. We looked at many African American performers and performances that had a huge impact on France’s cultural identity. After learning about all of this in class, I wanted to take my research further. I decided to research female foreign performers who have had a major influence on the Jazz Age in Paris. I decided to focus specifically on three foreign females, and they are: singer and dancer Josephine Baker, dancer Molly Spotted Elk, and dancer Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Each of these female performers had a large impact on taking the Jazz Age in Paris to another level.