Antebellum South African American Culture
For African-Americans, the Antebellum South was a turbulent landscape of competing culture and hardship. The first recorded instance of African slaves being brought to North America was in 1607, and the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in 1865, meaning that the practice of slavery took place within the United States for over two-hundred years. In these two-hundred years, an advanced and distinctly American culture would arise, and within this culture, as with any other culture, there was music. West-African religious practices merged with protestant Christian practices, and historians and musicologists dispute over which influence Afro-Gospel music most heavily displays. As protestant Christianity heavily emphasises conversion, there is no
doubt that, over time, African slaves identified as Christians, yet there is a disputed line of distinction between how much culture survived, and how much was lost due to efforts of assimilation. Aristotle says “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Historians can look at music as a primary source to decipher elements of society that may not have been explicitly stated. James H. Cone, a specialist in black theology, states, “Black music is unity music. It unites the joy and the sorrow, the love and the hate, the hope and the despair of black people; it moves the people forward in the direction of total liberation. It shapes and defines black being and creates cultural structures for black expression. Black music is unifying because it confronts the individual with the truth of black existence and affirms that black being is only possible in a communal context.” This quote studies what makes black American music distinctly black and American- and affirms that black spiritual music is based around communal practice, emotional expression, and liberation which, in study, is more tied to African roots than to protestant ones. Though African-American music was heavily influenced by European-American culture and Protestantism, it more closely resembles West-African music style in the way it is performed.
African Roots
doubt that, over time, African slaves identified as Christians, yet there is a disputed line of distinction between how much culture survived, and how much was lost due to efforts of assimilation. Aristotle says “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Historians can look at music as a primary source to decipher elements of society that may not have been explicitly stated. James H. Cone, a specialist in black theology, states, “Black music is unity music. It unites the joy and the sorrow, the love and the hate, the hope and the despair of black people; it moves the people forward in the direction of total liberation. It shapes and defines black being and creates cultural structures for black expression. Black music is unifying because it confronts the individual with the truth of black existence and affirms that black being is only possible in a communal context.” This quote studies what makes black American music distinctly black and American- and affirms that black spiritual music is based around communal practice, emotional expression, and liberation which, in study, is more tied to African roots than to protestant ones. Though African-American music was heavily influenced by European-American culture and Protestantism, it more closely resembles West-African music style in the way it is performed.
African Roots