How Did Gospel Music Affect African American Culture

Being enslaved was not an easy job for African Americans. African Americans survived slavery through their connection with their culture. They then went on to contribute to the economic and social development of the South and America. African Americans survived the institution of slavery and Africanized the American South. They helped free themselves by sticking together as a family, resisting, as well as wanting slavery to change. They freed themselves by 1865. They founded institutions, for example, black colleges, churches, banks, insurance companies, fraternities and sororities to uplift their race.

“I’ve always been drawn to gospel music and the roots of African American music. It’s the foundation of rock and roll.” Hozier, an Irish musician, was right when he claimed that Gospel music laid the foundation for rock and roll, but how did gospel get such an influential role? What figures popularized gospel so that it became a known genre of music worldwide? Who transformed the once tame church music into the emotional music that is now heard? While gospel may have started with other musicians, Thomas Dorsey changed and defined gospel as we know it today.

Motown was a transformative sound that arrived just at the height of the civil rights movement. Such success coming from a black business and black artists forced the rest of America to reexamine their racial prejudices that they still clung to. It seemed that it’s founder, Berry Gordy, knew from the start that Motown was something special when he hung a sign that read “Hitsville USA” above the recording studio’s headquarters. The success was almost instant for most Motown artists with song after song becoming number one hits on major music charts. However, the success was not easy, as it took strenuous amounts of work to mold the artist’s looks and sounds into something that would popularize them among the white population. The artists were expected to look and act the part at all times and at all places. The hard work eventually did pay off as Motown will have forever influenced history, the civil rights movement, and the music industry by catapulting black culture into a primarily white civilization.

Music is not only used to capture peoples hearing but it is used to power peoples minds through the power of an individuals voice. Music served a critical role in the African American’s lives, as it was used to uplift their spirits as well as providing them with hope and strength to fight for civil rights and overcome segregation between white superiority and the unfair treatment of the inferior black. Music was defined as the voice of the people that lived through the oppression of the civil rights movement. During the civil rights movement, there were many different types of music genres sung, dependent on the culture, this included spiritual music; gospel and even folk music, which was performed by musicians, singers and even people of any musical talents. Through this, it brought about the uniting of people to join together and sing songs that helped them go through the oppression of the civil rights movement.

When the fascination for “Negro music” came along many song artist that weren’t African American decided to get into this craze. They started trying to make music that matched the fascination that was

The traditions of African-American slaves, from the earliest of times in colonial America, were acts and words that endowed the future of their race with the essence of their past. From the earliest of our rice crops to the females, who provided their masters through repeated sexual abuses, slaves laid ownership to their portion of colonial American history. The key to maintaining the heritage of the early African family was a combined version of their ancient tribal religion and their master’s Christianity. In order to maintain a peaceful accord with their masters, slaves learned that diversifying songs and actions from African shores with slight adjustments in order to abide by the beliefs of their Christian masters. Examples of this

A majority of Black Americans usually follow what is known today as the “Black Church” These religions include Baptist and Methodism. These religious formations took place during the time of slavery. During the time of slavery, Blacks were not able to freely worship God. This led white Evangelical Baptist and Methodist preachers to travel throughout the South and sped their Religion to slaves. This led many slaves to convert to Methodism and Baptist.

Over the course of human history, music has been an integral part of life. Music’s impact can be seen in every facet of the world today and it is a way to express feelings, tell a story, or prove a point. It can bring people together and can transcend communities, cultures, and ideologies. Although many do not realize it, music has had a profound impact on all human lives, and the lives of all others that have since died. Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come’ is a song that defined a generation while bringing the oppression and injustice that African Americans experienced, on a daily basis, to the forefront of society.

We all know that the power of the Black community in America came from deep in their soul. Their strength and will to fight segregation , and their love can be felt in the civil rights movement. Their ability to express their minds in a non- violent way connects to the soul music that James Brown created. James Brown’s music was a mixture of R&B and gospel. Which in a way connects to what Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to do during the civil rights movement.

Sullivan also related to the ability for African Americans to develop unity through music to fight against their poor treatment, “Evoking a sense of unity among oppressed people is perhaps the most important way music was used by African-Americans to resist their abhorrent treatment and bolster the strength to continue fighting against those conditions” (Sullivan 24). Without a unity developed by music, African Americans would be unable psychologically to continue to fight for their rights. Music’s ability to bring African Americans

The African Americans had a big impact on the Civil War. They had to have all of these laws and papers wrote because of the slavery deal. They had the role of the debate for slavery. They were the slaves and they wanted to have their freedom. The Declaration of Independence said that, “All men are created equal”, but the slaves were not free. They shaped the Civil War by having the Emancipation Proclamation, the fourteenth amendment, and the fifteenth amendment. The consequences would be that at first the newly freed slaves wouldn’t have a place to go, because they never had no money and they didn’t have all their rights yet.

I did not understand the meaning of the lyrics being sung, or better yet screamed. The rhythms and melodies’ did not come across as pleasing as Disney songs, and they definitely did not carry my imagination to an enchanted world. During my youth, Gospel music was something I became a fan of, only because of the fact that I looked up to my grandma; I wanted to be just like my grandma and becoming a fan of Gospel music made me feel as if I was closer to being just like her. I was a big fan of the music my mom listened to: country and pop. It was something that brought my mother and I together.

The business opened new industries like the steel, cotton, and lumber mills to revitalize the economy. New cultural venues opened. Black institution and churches gained

People generally agree that the religious life of African American forms the foundation of their community life. However, in the 1770s, less than 1% of African Americans were connected to a church. Was the church/ Christianity force upon African Americans while enslaved? Scholars estimated that about 30% of African Americans that came to the United States as slaves were Muslims while 70% practiced indigenous forms of worship. Today, in the 21st century, more than 87% of African Americans identify as Christian and claims that religion plays a major role in their everyday life. African Americans should rethink Christianity in their community, such as how was Christianity introduced to them, does Christianity help the African American community,

In a country where as late as the 1860’s there were laws prohibiting the teaching of slaves, it was essential for the oral tradition to carry the values the group considered significant. African- American folklore has since been taken to new levels and forms. Writers have adopted these themes and have fit them into contemporary times. Most recently author Toni Morrison has taken African-