The Lingering Effects of Slavery

Taking a page from Nina, I'd like to talk about some of the later effects of mid-1800s culture, particularly slavery. Even when the slaves are emancipated, it's not like everything snaps to an equilibrium, a perfect balance of equality and liberty among all Americans. This change is sluggish; it is unclear whether we will ever conquer racism in this country.

As we talked about in class, a book in 1918 called "American Negro Slavery" by Ulrich B. Phillips gives a skewed perception of slavery, not exposing its true horror, but rather justifying the acts of the slaveholders. This is over 50 years after the Thirteenth Amendment which freed the slaves, and the Fourteenth Amendment which protected their rights. So this notion of class/race superiority did not just dissipate when legislation was passed. Heck, many of these divisions didn't go away until the Civil Rights movement in the 60s. Over one hundred years--and still an issue.

So how much did life change for the African Americans in the early part of the 20th century? Besides the fact that they were no longer slaves, not too much. Two great books that illustrate life for the African Americans in this era are W.E.B. DuBois' "Souls of Black Folk" and Ralph Ellison's "The Invisible Man." Maybe some of you have read DuBois' book for Western Civ. It describes the notion of the "veil," a figurative cloak over the black man who cannot at once be recognized as both black and American, when the African American community wants dearly to establish and take pride in both of these identities. DuBois, probably one of the most educated people in America at the time (trained at Harvard, pretty much everywhere else), still does not get professorship offers from any of the elite schools in the North, and is forced to take a job in the deep South. "Souls of Black Folk" was published in 1903, over 30 years since the 13th Amendment. Ellison's "Invisible Man" is perhaps my favorite book, if not that, among the top 3. Ellison, a uber-smart black man who has a sharp eye for observation and an dark but excellent sense of humor, describes his existence in that part of the century, where it is like he is invisible. The "Invisible Man" was published in 1952. Race relations were still not better, and looked to have no intention of tightening up in the immediate future. These books are excellent personal accounts of a bitter time in American history.

Slavery lingers perhaps greatest in one of our largest facets of culture; music, although it isn't apparent until you look at the roots of Rock 'n' roll. Now, I personally am of the belief that nothing really moves linearly (history, causality, etc), but in order to save everyone's time, I'm going to sort of create a loose cause/effect relationship. Traditional slave songs evolve into the blues, made popular by African American artists like Leadbelly and Robert Johnson. This form of music is raw, powerful, and evocative, but not extremely technical or only playable by the most talented musicians. Sound familiar? This became rock'n'roll, which is definately something American society holds dear. Though I realize the Beatles are British (all the Buddy Holly clips on Youtube were pretty weak), their meteoric rise would've never been possible without this evolution from slavery to blues to rock and roll.

My whole life, I have always been into music, as is much of my family, particularly rock and roll. It is something that really ties us all together, as we are all completely music-obsessed. That's why I find this period of time so interesting; it brought about something I have cherished, but at what cost to society? I prefer not to think about the implications of this statement, but there is no doubt it is an important one.