Week #3 Blog Post
Leroi Jones in his book, Blues People, talks about how “colonial America was the complete antithesis of the African’s version of human existence” (p. 4). Africans came to America for a better life and were in turn treated less than human beings. The African’s sole purpose in America was, for the most part, to provide the cheapest agricultural labor possible to procure (Jones, 1963, p. 3). Basically, their main role was to serve as slaves. When they were working in the field music would help them pass the time. I believe that in a way, singing became almost a version of therapy for them; to sing about what they were doing would help the day move faster. All in all music was a way for them to progress with the future. Over time our music has evolved, but it’s necessary for us to remember the past. We talked about artists like Leadbelly in class who sang, “pick a bale of cotton.” Listening to songs like this help us remember our history and see how far we have come from the times of slavery. Artists today sing about it in their music because the singing is a version of therapy for them as well. They can move on and progress into the future by accepting the harsh times in early America. Music will keep evolving like this, and fifty to a hundred years from now different music artists will be singing about our reality now as a means of accepting our culture to move on with their future too.