S

The BluesThe Early 1900’s – 2000’s

Timeline of History1607-1865 American

Slavery

Timeline of History1861-1865: The American

Civil War

Timeline of History1865: 13TH Amendment

Abolishes Slavery

Timeline of History1865-1867: Reconstruction

Period of history following the American Civil War. (1865 to 1877)

Included, the legal process for admitting the South back into the Union.

Timeline of History: 1865-1870’S

“The Freedman’s Bureau”

A Government agency that aided distressed freedmen (freed slaves) during Reconstruction.

Helped solve everyday problems of the newly freed slaves, such as clothing, food, water, health care, communication with family members, and jobs.

1865-1866: “Black Codes”

Black Codes were laws passed by both the North and the South that discriminated against African Americans between 1865 and 1866.

These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African American’s freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.

Timeline of History: 1865Reconstruction and the

KKK

The first Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee by six veterans of the Confederate Army

Greek word kuklos means “Circle” suggesting a circle or band of brothers.

The Klan targeted freedmen and their allies; it sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder, against black and white Republicans.

Timeline of HistoryThe Great Migration

(African-Americans, 1900-1930)

The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African-Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that lasted up until the 1960’s.

Timeline of History: 1876-1965 “Jim Crow Laws”

Jim Crow laws: Racial segregation laws enacted between 1867 and 1965.

The laws mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern States of the former Confederacy, starting in 1890, with a “separate but equal’ status for African Americans.

The separation led to conditions for African Americans that were far inferior to those provided to whites, thus.. Allowing for economic, educational, and social disadvantages.

The Origins of Jim Crow

"Jump Jim Crow" is a song and dance from 1828 that was done in “blackface” by white comedian Thomas Dartmouth Rice.

Rice’s character became so popular that the character became a derogatory term for African Americans and thus… was used in segregation laws.

Prohibition1918-1933

1918- The 18th Amendment prohibits the sale of alcohol

1933- 21st Amendment ‘repeals’ alcohol.

The Great Depression1929- mid-1940’s

1929- Stock Market Crash

1930’s- The Dust Bowl

Timeline of History: The Civil Rights Movement

(1955-1968)

Various social movements in the United States whose goal was to end racial segregation and discrimination against black Americans and enforce constitutional voting rights to them.

Song Analysis Questions

Song Analysis Questions:

1. Where and when was the song written? By whom?

2. What was the purpose of the song?

3. What is the mood of the music?

4. Is there a message the song is trying to convey? If so, what? To whom?

5. Are there any words or phrases that need specific interpretation? If so, identify and define them. 

 

Elements of Song Structure

Verses: In a song, a verse is a group of lines that constitutes a unit (similar to verses in poetry). Typically, a song consists of several verses, and the rhyme scheme and rhythm are usually the same from verse to verse.

Chorus: A song’s refrain (verse that repeats itself at given intervals throughout the song).

Bridge: Transitional passage connecting two sections of the song.

A-A-B blues format

A: The first line often presents an idea or issue

A: the second line repeats it (perhaps with a slight variation),

B: the third line develops or resolves the idea presented in the first and second lines.

“Trouble So Hard” ~ Vera Hall, early 1900’s

“Trouble So Hard”- early 1900’s

Unaccompanied singing and its call-and-response style (where a leader sings a line and others repeat it)

Mirrors earlier African American musical forms created by slaves

Direct address to God and the weariness and endurance evident in the lyrics can be related to the brutal oppression of slavery

(Drums as….) instruments were banned (hence the a cappella singing) and solace was found in the idea of the Christian hereafter

Singing itself was a form of protest against conditions.

“Me and My Gin” ~ Bessie Smith (1912- 1937)

“Me and My Gin” ~ Bessie Smith (1920’s-1930’s)

“Sweet Home Chicago” ~ Robert Johnson (1920’s-

30’s)

Skip James, “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues”

(1930’s)

Skip James, “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues”

Sliding notes and slow pace is reminiscent of slave music

Lyrics emphasize the movement of African Americans in search of a better life and an increasing anger about racism and poverty.

Song represents the continuing oppression of African Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s, a time when Jim Crow laws and lynchings were part of daily life in the segregated South.

“Strange Fruit” ~ Billie Holliday (1939)

“Strange Fruit” ~ Billie Holliday

Originally a poem written by a white, Jewish, high school teacher from the Bronx, New York named Abel Meeropol. The poem was meant to expose American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans.

The poem was set to music and made famous by legendary singer Billie Holliday’s performance of it.

Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy” (1950’s)

Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy”

electric guitar, the backing rhythm section of drums and harp, and the screaming audience reflect the bigger, louder life of excitement that blacks found after migrating to modern cities between the World Wars.

The song is essentially a boast about sexual prowess, but also an indirect protest against racism, particularly whites’ practiceof calling black men, of whatever age, “boy.”

It can also be related to the growing Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s.

Chris Thomas King, “Da Thrill Is Gone From

Here”~ 2000’s

Chris Thomas King, “Da Thrill Is Gone From

Here”~ 2000’s

Modern cover of B.B. King’s 1971 hit “The Thrill Is Gone From Here.”

Repeating refrain of “still got the blues,” the hip-hop slang, and the references to modern ghetto life outline the ways in which racism is still alive and well in America, despite emancipation, despite the Great Migration, and despite the Civil Rights Movement.

The song lists cities across America where blacks live, and despairs about their plight, yet also espouses the power of “keeping a positive mind.”

“Next Door Neighbor Blues” ~ Gary Clark, Jr.

Gary Clark Jr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgtcrkI7R58&feature=kp

WRITE YOUR OWN BLUES SONG!!!

Your Song Must Have the Following: * Catchy TITLE * THREE VERSES * TWO CHORUSES * Be NO Longer than… THREE MINUTES * Can be INSTRUMENTAL or NON-INSTRUMENTAL * Print Song Lyrics: include Song Title, Last

Names, Period Numbers of Group members, and ROLES of Group Members (at top of page.)

* Be recorded on an AUDIO file and stored on a flash drive.   

How?

Use your own recording device (phone voice memo, garage band, etc.)

Individual or Group (No more than 4 people per group)

Turn In:

Turn In: “Cimino Drop Box on King MS Server”

 Drop: AUDIO file in “Cimino Drop Box” on the King server by March 10th, 2014

Print/Drop: Song Lyrics w/Song Title, Group Members Names, and Period Numbers by March 10th. 2014

100 pts.

“The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the

Furious Five~ 1982

"The Message" was the first prominent hip hop song to provide a lyrical social commentary. It took rap music from the house parties to the social platforms later developed by groups like Public Enemy, N.W.A., and Rage Against the Machine.

“The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the

Furious Five