Jimmy Hendrix And The Black Arts Movement Essay

In the reading for today, Waksman discusses the relevance of Jimmy Hendrix to the Black Arts Movement and the importance of Hendrix being an African-American performer at a time when race relations were still highly tense within the United States. Waksman touches upon the interesting point of whether viewing Hendrix as an essential part of the Black Arts Movement is really appropriate. On the one hand, acknowledging and celebrating the fact that many of the most important musical artists from the birth of popular music onwards were African-American prevents the arts from being seen as a purely white domain, rightfully demonstrating to the world that black people were equally as capable and talented. Conversely however, Waksman notes the inadequacies of grouping all African-American musicians together under the banner of a single movement. Referring to Hendrix as a

Though Hendrix was enamoured with the protest songs of Bob Dylan and was sympathetic towards the civil rights movement (as illustrated by his performance at Woodstock), interviews with the guitarist reveal his intention for his music to transcend racial boundaries and to instead be considered “a spiritual thing… part of the race of man”.

Although unrelated to music, I can’t help but be reminded of comments made a few years ago by the actor Morgan Freeman about Black History Month when reading the two different schools of thought presented in Waksmen’s chapter. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Freeman remarked that he found the idea of Black History Month insulting, suggesting that it is inappropriate to “relegate [his] history to a month”. I feel that this is the equivalent to only viewing Jimi Hendrix through the lens of being a black artist. Such categorising is