Influential Music Culture In The 20th Century

Mackenzie Bill

Lyman Grant

Huma 1315

Essay 2/Analytical Essay

2/28/18

Influential Music Culture

For many reasons, the 20th century was seen as “America’s Century.” During this time, America’s influence was felt among the world. This couldn’t be truer when talking about music. The most important influence on music in the 20th century was African Americans and the culture they brought into this country that developed within the bonds of slavery. One of the most influential songs that emerged from this time was Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit.’ This song exposes the brutality of racism in America in the early 1900’s. The end of the century was the birth of hip hop. This genre, with its deep rhythms and poetic lyrics, was a direct evolution from

Jazz was a term for a type of music which developed in the Southern States of America. From racial bands to protests during the civil rights movement, Jazz has played a large role in shaping our democracy. First recorded by the famous jazz singer Billie Holiday, ‘Strange Fruit’ is a song about the lynching of African Americans in the south during the first half of the 20th century. This song was first written as a poem by a man named Abel Meerpool, who was disgusted after seeing a gruesome picture of the lynching of black men. At this time, lynching in the south had reached its peak, estimating to about 4,000 lynching’s’ in the century before 1940. The poem itself was published in 1937 and just two years later, Holiday turned it into a song which was then recorded in 1939. This song quickly became the anthem for the anti-lynching movement. Although the lyrics may seem simple, the strength behind them are haunting. “Blood on the leaves and blood at the rot / Black bodies swinging in the summer breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees” (Strange Fruit). In the song, the black victims are portrayed as “strange fruit,” as they hang bleeding from the trees. At the time when political protest was not often expressed in music form, this song was

Lynching was a serious problem in the early 1900’s and blacks made many efforts in order to secure an anti-lynching law. Shortly after, The Great Depression led African Americans out of work, and the jobs formally known as “negro” jobs became “white” jobs because they were the only jobs available. “By the 1932 election, the national unemployment rate was about 24 percent, and the black unemployment rate was around 50 percent” (Brooker). As well as not being able to find work, blacks received lower welfare payments and starvation was a constant