I am dedicating this blog post to the chapter we are currently reading, “African Americans” in the Weissman book. I specifically want to reflect and react to how blacks were portrayed in media and how music has impacted the community as a whole. Before reading anything in this chapter, I knew some bits of how they were portrayed in media and performances. I, specifically, knew about white men putting on ‘blackface’ and mocking African Americans. This is just disrespectful and makes me sick thinking that people were treated in such a demeaning manner. Something that I found interesting and bizarre was that Jim Crow became law because of a character in a minstrel. Also, I did not know that there were African Americans that acted in these degrading skits and performances.
Music, for everyone, expresses our concerns, feelings, and usually a message. I feel like music was used more as a tool to spread a message about the issues in society back then. Many artists used their platforms to get that message out there. One artist that stood out to me and that I already knew about was Marvin Gaye. As the book stated, Gaye was considered a sex symbol but he wanted a more ‘artistic career’. I did not know and I also found it interesting that he made a song that was about wanting peace and love in the world.
This chapter was definitely an eye-opener to what happened to slaves and how they were treated via media. I now have a better understanding of the music that has impacted the black community and how artists made a big change in society.
When reading chapter 3 of the book, I had the same reaction to it as you. I was amazed that they would treat them so poorly or that they would even take part in the skits themselves. The chapter really explained what life was like for them back then and how awful they were treated and how they came together threw music with each other even threw everything.
ReplyDeletePrior to reading this chapter I was in the same boat as you. I knew that performances mocked African Americans but I did not know that African Americans themselves took part in some shows. I found that the music from this time period accurately reflected the beliefs of people. Whites felt they were superior and depicted salves in a negative, awful way. It was honestly a little hard to watch the videos we were assigned seeing whites make a joke out of innocent people.
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