In “The Cross of Redemption,” historian James Baldwin credits beats and rhythms as being “the confession which recognizes, changes, and conquers time” (Baldwin). Indeed, from building a sense of community and keeping cultural roots alive to lending a voice to calls for change, music is central to influencing the course of history.
Music has been indubitably critical to pivotal historical periods for this group; exemplifying singer and Civil Rights activist Bernie Johnson Reagon’s consideration of music as “integral to the African American struggle for Freedom” (Reagon).
This essay aims to use events such as the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Harlem Renaissance/the spread of Jazz in the 1920s as well as the Civil Rights movement beginning in the 1940s to illustrate how music was influential to the development of Black social and cultural identity.
Stemming from the European colonialist desire of past centuries, the Transatlantic Slave trade resulted in the enslavement of over 12 million Black Africans as well as the overseas transport of over a quarter of these slaves across the Atlantic Ocean. Between about 1501 and the eradication of slavery in the 19th century, the Portuguese, British, and Dutch established trade of precious metal and slaves with Akan States, with the slaves being transported on trade ships as labor for transatlantic plantations (Macgregor and British Museum).
As detailed within “A History of the World in 100 Objects,” the Akan drum became an integral part of the lives of these slaves’ lives. Colloquially known as a ‘talking drum’, the instrument was used to almost reproduce the nuances of the Akan language for the community (Macgregor and British Museum), thus serving as a medium of communication and general expression.
The impact of this was visible and undeniable, so much so that in the late 18th century, drums were used as a signal for slaves to take up armaments in a violent rebellion, leading to the classification of drums as weaponry in South Carolina, and an eventual ban on these drums in colonies.
This apparent weaponization showcased the threat the colonial powers saw the medium of music to be, thus highlighting the utility of music in community-building and expression as well as aids the image of music as a powerful harbinger of change.
This is further exemplified by abolitionist and Maryland native Frederick Douglass — born into a family of slaves in 1818 (Trent) — who remarked that the music he heard growing up was a “testimony against slavery and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains,” through which he received his first impressions of the “dehumanizing character of slavery” (Douglass).
African Music from this era went on to influence jazz, the essence of which historian J.A Rogers describes as “a joyous revolt from convention, custom, authority, boredom, even sorrow – from everything that would confine the soul of man and hinder its riding free on the air” (Locke).
Thus, the Transatlantic Slave Trade saw the rise of music in a community-building role, a propagator of cultural and historical unity, as well as a medium of expression and communication for a community so willing to hold onto their roots and rebel against the wrongdoings of the colonial powers.
The Black community’s link to the changemaking power of music was also significant during the spread of Jazz, a movement that brought Black thinkers and artists into the creative spotlight and reinforced their cultural identity. The Great Migration had led to hundreds of thousands of African-Americans migrating toward the North and Midwest between 1916 and 1970 with the hope of improved living conditions, employment, and more inclusive environment; each individual carrying experiences of racial segregation, a desire for liberation and looking to reinforce their cultural and social identity.
The Harlem section of Manhattan specifically saw the densest centralisation of the Black community worldwide and saw the emergence of works spanning various forms of art that aimed to depict the Black experience of the time – what writer Langston Hughes described to be an “expression of our individual dark-skinned selves” (Hughes).
These works characterized the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s and the resulting growth in African American intellectuals – notable examples being William DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke – became critical in taking the arts and culture of their community to new heights of recognition and influence (Britannica).
This time period saw Black artists and musicians in particular produce work that directly challenged racial stereotypes at the time, serving as a “period of intense debate” (“How Did the Harlem Renaissance Use Art to Challenge White Supremacy?”) over pre-established societal ideas of the 1920s.
Within the duration of this period, African American and Jazz music saw a general and sustained rise in recognition and popularity, with Black Music acting as “the pulse of the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age” (Hutchinson), and musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to the spotlight.
Black musicians were also able to ascertain employment in the music and entertainment industry, and drew inspiration from both their daily lives as well as the historical struggle of their people (Jensen). As such, the Harlem Renaissance and the advent of the Jazz Era saw music act as an adjuvant to social change and, consequently, exemplifies its potency in influencing the course of history.
Rooted in a history of resisting racial repression, the American Civil Rights Movement took shape over the mid- 1950s and 60s. In his speech “Like a Bird Without Wings,” John Lewis remarked that “if it hadn’t been for music, the civil rights movement would’ve been like a bird without wings”(Lewis).
Indeed, as a co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee – or SNCC – Lewis served at the forefront of the movement, making him most suited to giving such insight into the role of music in shaping the course of the movement. Briefly, the aptly named Committee focused on utilizing peaceful methodologies to gain attention and push for change in a manner that appealed to all members of society, and music served as the vernacular language. Members of the Committee – such as Sam Block, who organized the first voter registration programme in Mississippi Delta – took the first community-wide steps to be teaching the locals protest and freedom songs. Block remarked that this specific form of music was essential “not only to bring [people] together but also as an organizational glue to hold them together” (SNCC Digital Gateway). It is also critical to note the inherent cause for the Civil Rights Movement was the desire to see legislative gains, especially noting the history of struggle within this community. Martin Luther King, Jr. encapsulates this history in his book Why We Can’t Wait – published in 1964 – where he indicates activists involved in the movement “sing the freedom songs today for the same reason the slaves sang them, because we too are in bondage and the songs add hope to our determination that ‘We shall overcome, Black and white together, We shall overcome someday’(King 86).”
This community-building aspect of music was a catalyst to widespread and rather inclusive community actions, giving rise to the Selma and Albany Movements which aimed mainly to eradicate racial segregation. In some manner, the use of protest and community-wide music mirrored the change and reform the protesters aimed to bring forth, one which reinforced participants’ ideas of empowerment and self-assurance. Activist and composer Bernice Johnson Reagon commented in hindsight that the music “released a kind of power” and unleashed “a force” (SNCC Digital Gateway) within herself which had not been harnessed within her before. Not only this, but prominent musician Louis Armstrong reported music as being critical to the union of the Black and White races at the time (Armstrong), thus propagating the role of music as a universal integrator. As a result, the role of music in the Civil Rights Movement is undoubtedly significant to the black community – as a tool of empowerment, self-assurance, a way to hold onto their ancestral history of struggle, and as a catalyst to inclusive and widespread revolution, thus making it critical and rather influential to the course of history.
In conclusion, the role of music is emphasized significantly when considering the sociocultural development of the Black Community. As seen against the backdrop of events such as the slave trade, Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights movement, music was pivotal in shaping the identity of the African American community within the United States over the course of decades. Acting as a medium of building community, a beacon of hope for positive legislative change, a call to action that transcends language and as a connector to ethnic roots, African and Jazz music exemplified the influence of music on the course of history. If music has had such a sizable impact on the sociocultural development of one community, its influence on history is undoubtedly significant, especially when considering the diversity and abundance of such groups across the globe.
