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Culture Expressed Through Sound: A Brief History Of Jazz Music

760 Words4 Pages

Grace Thomas
Culture Expressed Through Sound
"What we play is life," Spoken by a phenomenal jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, this quote conveys that jazz music expresses the life of African Americans (Armstrong 1). During the Civil rights movement, music became a safe space for Black Americans to voice their thoughts and a haven of comfort (Aldrich 1). Black Americans expressed their identity, culture, and struggle through the genres of jazz, R&B, and rap. Music gave people a beautiful way to portray their grim experiences.
Jazz thrived during the early twentieth century, originating in New Orleans. This new genre developed from the combination of African and American cultures to create a unique ragtime sound. This style of music spread rapidly …show more content…

This genre emanated from African Americans traveling to busy cities after living in the "rural south" (Wickham 2). R&B artists started emerging during the nineteen forties and thrived in the nineteen sixties (Wickham 2). Even during the later years of the civil rights act, Black Americans still fought relentlessly for their rights and equality. In 1963, a tragedy known as the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing occurred, in which four innocent Black girls died in an attack by white supremacists. Following this devastating attack, Nina Simone, a renowned R&B artist, composed a song to protest the brutality against African Americans called, "Mississippi Goddam." Simone addressed the biased criminal justice system that let White men commit unforgivable crimes without charge and the minimal progression of racial awareness (Fields 5). Simone "was weaponizing music itself" to voice the issue of oppression in the United States while lifting the nation with her melodies (Fields 1). "We will shape and mold this country," says Simone in an interview, and she did (Fields 12). Her songs played a crucial part in the civil rights act and brought awareness to racial issues. R&B became a way for Black Americans to share their stories and inspired another genre of music,

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