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Similarities Between Early Rock And Roll And The Racial Divide

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Early Rock & Roll and the Racial Divide If you were to look through your music playlist, what is the most prominent genre that you’d find? If you said rock & roll, I’ve got news for you. Rock & roll is known as the musical byproduct to American’s greatest revolution. During the peak period of segregation, poverty, and Victorian morals, Rock & roll managed to integrate two completely different styles of music and create something worthwhile. This in turn, paved the way for America’s own social integration. However, this integration didn’t happen without a fight. Early rock & roll created a racial divide so large, that it was almost impossible to dissipate. During the early 1950’s, the segregation of black people and white people was not only legal, but also aggressively enforced by authority officials. Radio stations were forced to played different genres of music targeted to different races. While white American’s were encouraged to listen to mainstream Pop music, Black people were left with what is …show more content…

“The Genie had been let out of the bottle, and even though the government might be able to discourage future ‘disruption’ to the proper operation of the recording industry, there was no way to make mainstream youth forget the new sensibility introduced by the rock and roll sound” (Linden, 2000). The change in the music market brought white teens to black musicians’ concerts, as well as blacks to see white musicians. This was an act of solidarity between races that was never before seen. Thanks to Rock and Roll, the younger generation was influenced to question, as well as dissipate some of the most wrongful beliefs held in America by adults at the time. It is because of these broken down racial barriers that rock & roll is considered to be one of the most revolutionary cultural phenomena in American

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