Introduction To The Humanities: Slavery

Introduction to the Humanities Name Institution Introduction to the Humanities Slavery is a practice that began a long time ago in the post-colonial era where Africans and African Americans were used to provide forced labor to their white masters. Even though various parts of the world experienced this, the case the practice was rampant in the American South where black slaves were exposed to very harsh conditions. Due to this, most slaves used music as a way of surviving the difficult times. Generally, the songs were used as a means of reminding the slaves of their togetherness and also to kill boredom as well as give them morale as they worked. Sometimes the songs lamented of the harsh conditions they were exposed to or simply spoke of hope, redemption and freedom. Because of the continued use of music as a form of expression, the ideals used during this time are still evident in contemporary society. The contemporary society has adopted the use of music as a way of expression, and in most cases, songs are used for particular occasions. In the same way, the idea of the use of musical instruments such as the drum has now been widely adopted. Through alluding to the history of slavery, musicians have proven that there is increased awareness all over the world in all areas of life. The contemporary society has been impacted largely by the history of slavery as shown by the articles discussed below. Bush, B. (2006, November 2). African Echoes, Modern Fusions: Caribbean Music, Identity and Resistance in the African Diaspora. Journal of Music Reference Services Quarterly, 10(1), N.p. In this article, the author discusses music as a form of resistance used by African slaves against their oppressive white masters. The continued of music by the slaves posed a threat to the slave owners who felt that the ability to unanimously express themselves would give the slaves the courage to rebel against their owners. The article further notes that this use of music as a way of expression and resistance is still being used today in Caribbean music culture. Evidently, dance is also used alongside music to show this resistance and cultural expression. In addition, the article explores how African-American rap, raga and Jamaican Reggae influence black British music. Generally, this study agrees that indeed African diaspora music that evolved because of slavery has been of great influence on “the global rhythms of resistance”. The article is relevant in that it helps one to understand how the slavery of Africans contributed and inspired the rhythms used in modern music, not only in Caribbean but in the whole world as well. Howard R, and Jeremiah, C. (2015, January 1). "I Own My Own Masters": Rap Music and Slavery Reference. Journal of Ethnic American Literature, 5, N.p. This study focuses on slavery references or allusions used by modern-day musicians to show awareness both politically and culturally. According to the authors, this is referred to as black consciousness and is expressed widely in modern rap music. Usually, music artists refer to the history of slavery to address issues of oppression and freedom. The study gives an example of the song lyrics “I own my own masters” by Jay Z in which the rapper boasts of how the black man now has power over the white man when the case was completely different in the slavery era. Moreover, it is also noted that rap music often includes the mention of influential ex-slaves including Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman and many others as a show that Africans and African Americans are now more culturally and politically aware. Evidently, using slavery as a point of reference makes rap music artists to be perceived as being more creative than the others are. The above is important since it makes it clear that racial discrimination is an evil that has to be done away with. In the olden days, blacks were treated as slaves who had no rights or freedom because of the preconceived notion that they were not intelligent enough to understand what was happening in society. However, this has proven to be incorrect as shown through rap music. Persaud, E. J. (2011, June). The Signature of Hip Hop: A S...