Most musicians use their emotions, ranging from joy, sorrow, and even anger, to craft lyrics and in turn, create music. The art created by African-Americans is often done the experience of the pain of lost love and injustice. America is the birthplace to some of the most influential music the world.

 

Black American citizens have created their own styles of music since the beginning, and most of this later evolved into many of the popular genres we may know and love today. From blues, soul and rock ‘n’ roll to gospel, R&B and hip-hop, African-Americans have always found a way to use music to lift everyone's spirits in a country that didn't always want to return the favor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music created by African-Americans through the experience of the pain of lost love and injustice. America is the birthplace to some of the most influential music the world.

Much time before the 20th century, blues music was slowly evolving across the country through the African slave spirituals, work songs, and chants. Of all the developing genres, the blues would be the most widely spread.

 

Since almost all of the United States was segregated until the 1970s, black men and women had to create their own entertainment. Artists such as Otis Redding and Sam Cooke began to cross the bridge into the mainstream, white-dominated, culture in the entertainment industry with chart-topping songs (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay and (What A) Wonderful World.

 

 

 

 

 

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Though it is one of the simplest genres in America, the blues had the most important influence on many other genres like jazz, rock and roll and even country music. Jazz specifically had become more than just music. It was a cultural movement. It was more than just another genre of music; jazz has become linked with the legal and social equality for all African Americans. Artists like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nat King Cole changed the world with their music and helped lift the spirits of disenfranchised Black Americans.

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Gospel music emerged in the black dominated congregations around the nations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Black vocalists used their God-given gifts for the glory of Kingdom by spreading their heavenly tunes throughout the sanctuary. With a number of singers ranging from Marvin Sapp, Tasha Cobbs, Mahalia Jackson, and Fred Hammond, Americans who have a love for gospel have found their ears soothed by black Christian vocalists during their one-on-one time with God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soul music is the sound of Gospel, but used to bring a more mainstream take on that same sound. James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, and the Temptations are examples of black soul singers who influenced modern music as we know it today.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, many years later, we are introduced to brand new combinations of historical black music that has led to an enormous transformation in the music world: pop, R&B and hip-hop. Come back next week to listen to and learn more of the newer incarnations of music championed and pioneered by Black American citizens next week.

HISTORY OF BLACK-AMERICANS AND MUSIC: Part I of II

Written by Genine Ochoa & Kainan Seth