3 Music Genres Created by African Americans

Gabriella Dotson

1) Blues

Born out of Northern Mississippi in the late 1800’s, blues is a genre that was initially a folk music popular among slaves in the Mississippi Delta. During the great migration of black workers, the blues spread with it. It gets its name from its original association with melancholy objects and sounds. Blues songs are focused on pain of loss and injustice but also expressed the victory in outlasting these painful experiences. The main features of blues include: specific dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma, and flattened ‘blue’ tones. When the genre became mainstream in the 1920’s because of its AAB lyric pattern. Famous blues artists included B.B King and Etta James. Etta’s James songs "I’d Rather Go Blind" and "At Last" are famous in the blues genre.

2) Jazz

The genre of Jazz is said to be created by Buddy Bolden, a bandleader known as the “First man of Jazz”. Although Bolden is the “First man of Jazz”, the music we know as Jazz developed over centuries from West African rhythms combined with Western European harmonic structure through the slave trade. The rhythmic aspect of Jazz is from its West African roots but also some of its customary instruments, such as the banjo or guitar. The European influence became present when Jazz bands began to use more conventional instruments; string bass, piano, and trumpet. Per the melodies of Jazz, it is a combination of the African and European vocals created by slaves This genre can also be described as the combination of ragtime and blues due to its characteristics of original timbres, syncopated rhythms, and a range of degrees of improve. Even though it includes improv it is never fully improv, but also never fully composed. Jazz has been able to develop into multiple forms, like free jazz or swing, yet is always instantly differentiated from other musical genres. Famous Jazz artists include Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

3) Gospel

Created by Thomas A Dorsey, gospel is a religious genre of music that combines Christian praise with jazz and blues rhythms. Mr. Dorsey wrote many songs about the tragedies in his life and how his religion has and will help him through this. Gospel is commonly sung in African American Congregations during sermons with a very lively audience. This style of music invokes call-and-response and a like-minded choir. The purpose of Gospel music is to uplift Christian beliefs and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ through music. Famous gospel singers include Kirk Franklin and Tamala Mann. Gospel music and influence can be seen in other genres. Kanye West commonly uses the coals of gospel groups in his songs such as Jesus is King. Drake also uses gospel influence in his famous song "God’s Plan".

Contemporary Black Poets to Read

Jennifer Chiu

While everyone is likely to know acclaimed black poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes, here are a few contemporary poets leading the current writing scene.

Amanda Gorman is most well-known for performing at President Joe Biden’s inauguration with her powerful piece, “The Hill We Climb.” But even before then, she had an impressive career as a poet—publishing her first book The One for Whom Food is Not Enough in 2015 and being the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. Gorman’s work typically deals with ideas of oppression and marginalization, as well as the African American experience. As a writer, her poems manage to feel both subtle yet evocative, and the intimacy in her writing shine in works such as “In This Place” and “New Day’s Lyric”, which speak to her talent as a writer and the power of her poetry.

Further reading: “Ship’s Manifest” from Call Us What We Carry (2021)

Cameron Awkward-Rich is both a poet and professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Having published two poetry collections, his poems tackle ideas of gender and race in America, especially as a trans black person. Poems like “Meditation in an Emergency” are almost heartbreakingly beautiful, with lines such as “Like you, I was born. Like you, I was raised in the / institution of dreaming.” His writing is lush but determined, providing an unflinching perspective into the society that shapes us.

Further reading: “All My Friends Are Sad & Bright” from Dispatch (2019)

The Poet Laureate from 2017-2019, Tracy K. Smith has received a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. She often writes about race and identity, and her poetry also features influences from her personal background. The sci-fi imagery of her collection Life on Mars pays homage to her father’s work with the Hubble Space Telescope and showcases the breadth and diversity of her writing. In addition to being a poet, Tracy K. Smith is also the author of the memoir Ordinary Light, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her writing feels almost dreamlike; in the poem, “I Don’t Miss It,” Smith writes, “And when I begin to believe I haven’t left, / The rest comes back. Our couch. My smoke / Climbing the walls while the hours fall.” Her writing brims with these visceral images, painting beautiful contemplations on relationships, identity, and human experience.

Further reading: “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” from Life on Mars (2011)

Claudia Rankine has been highly acclaimed for her work Citizen: An American Lyric, which focuses on race in America. The poems in this collection experiment with the boundaries of genre, crossing between essay, poetry, and memoir while pushing conventions of traditional lyric poetry. In addition to Citizen, she has published many other collections of poetry, essays, and plays. Like Citizen straddles the boundary between literary genres, much of her writing also explores the boundaries and distinctions of constructs like race and social class. Much of her work speaks to the black experience in America, and she uses her craft to create a powerful meditation on society.

Further reading: “You are in the dark, in the car…” from Citizen (2014)

Known and Unknown Movie of the Month

Morgan Brown

There are many movies in the world that you have and have not seen but

these are 2 known and 2 unknown movies for the month of February to

watch if you haven’t seen them already.

Known

Hidden Figures PG

This uplifting movie based on a true story is about three black female

mathematicians who served as the brains behind one of the greatest

operations in U.S. history. These women worked with NASA as computers

to get John Glenn into orbit in space. This movie is 5/5 to me and represents the

strong women figure during a time when men had the dominance.

Sky High PG

This movie is set in an era where superheroes are commonly known and

accepted. William Stronghold, the son of the Commander and Jetstream,

tries to balance his life of being a normal teenager and having powers. I rate this

movie is rated 4.5/5 (the lack of points due to some of Williams gullible

actions).

Unknown

Overboard PG

This is an underrated and not commonly known movie about a rich lady

who’s tricked to believe that she is the man that she mistreated wife and

mother to his kids. She has memory lost from falling overboard and she

begins to adjust to the adversities of not knowing who she is and believing

that she’s who her husband told her she is. This is the original Overboard

and I rate it a 5/5.

The Next Three Days PG-13

This is a thrilling movie about a man whose wife is falsely accused of

murder and he has three days to break her out of jail otherwise she will be

sent to prison and he won’t be able to get her out of jail. This movie is

thrilling and has a good storyline. I would rate this 5/5. He must love her to

risk going to jail to break her out of it.