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Media and racial stereotypes
Stereotyping in the media
Stereotyping in the media
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Shania Bowley
Strange Fruit Activity
Ms. Mungin
2/17/18
Billie Holiday was an influential jazz singer with a rough childhood, that allowed her to confide in music for comfort. At the age of 18 Billie was discovered by a producer after a performance in an Harlem jazz club. . "Strange Fruit" is considered to be one of her signature ballads, and because of controversy that surrounded it, some radio stations banned the record—helped make it a hit. This song made me feel sad, because as an African American, I cannot imagine being murdered so painfully for being the color that I am. I am angry, disturbed, and frightened by the vivid description of the the bodies swinging from the trees because of something they cannot help, like a biological shade
Eleanora Fagan (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), professionally known as Billie Holiday, was an American jazz artist and artist musician with a vocation traversing almost thirty years. Nicknamed "Woman Day" by her companion and music accomplice Lester Young, Holiday affected jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, firmly propelled by jazz instrumentalists, spearheaded another method for controlling stating and rhythm. She was known for her vocal conveyance and improvisational aptitudes, which compensated for her restricted range and absence of formal music instruction. There were other jazz vocalists with equivalent ability, however Holiday had a voice that caught the consideration of her crowd.
In 1933 Billie audition as a dancer when she was 18, but the judges said she was not good enough so they asked her if she could sing-she could. In 1939 Billy sang at a café called Café Society and the song was “Strange Fruit”. Holiday wanted the song to be recorded but it was forbidden because it was “too inflammatory” Strange Fruit is a song about racism. She did not want to sing it on many radio stations because they banned all the intense words in the song. She could have been killed by the Koo Klucks Klan if she sang that song. Promoters objected Billie Holiday because of her race. The style of her voice-often tries to sound like a horn instrument because she likes the sliding sound. She refused to sing like other singers. Billie slyly said on a radio interview,”I always wanted to sound like an instrument.” She changed her name to Billie Holiday because her favorite film star, Billie Dove. In 1944 Billie Holiday received the Esquire Magazine Gold Award for Best Leading Female Vocalist. She would then receive some more awards in the following years to come. She got the nickname “Lady Day”. She was discovered by John Hammond, a young producer at Monette’s, a Harlem night club. When he heard Billie’s voice he was
Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit “is probably one of the greatest songs composed telling the chilling story about lynching. A little unknown fact is that it was written by a Jewish man by the name of Abel Meeropol. Initially “Strange Fruit” originated as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, as a protest against lynching of African Americans. Meeropol meet Holiday in a bar, where she read the poem, and decided to make the poem into a song. The record made it to No. 16 on the charts in July 1939. This song is probably Holiday’s most famous song she ever sung throughout her whole life. In the end Strange fruit forces listeners to relive the tragic horrors of living in America as an African American. The vivid lyrics paints a picture that causes a person
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were both prominent jazz singer-songwriters during the same time and masters in their own right, but their worlds could not have been further apart. In 1939, while they were both in the midst of experiencing mainstream success, Ella was touring with Ella and her Famous Orchestra and showcasing her perfect pitch and tone to the world while singing songs that would soon become standards to fellow singers and musicians. Billie was singing solo, comfortable with her limited range, and gaining the adoration of audiences nationwide who loved her soulful voice. Both of these historic singers made contributions to the art of jazz, with vocalists and instrumentalists still using elements of their style today. Ella
While Jim Crow laws were reeking havoc on the lives of African Americans in the South, a massed exodus of Southern musicians, particularly from New Orleans, spread the seeds of Jazz as far north as New York City. A new genre of music produced fissures in the walls of racial discrimination thought to be impenetrable. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, "King" Oliver and Fletcher Henderson performed to the first desegregated audiences. Duke Ellington starred in the first primetime radio program to feature an African American artist. And a quirky little girl from Missouri conquered an entire country enthralled by her dark skin, curvaceous body and dynamic personality. Josephine Baker was more than a Jazz musician. She embodied the freedom and expressiveness of that which is known as Jazz.
“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday conveys the inhumane, gory lynchings of African-Americans in the American South, and how this highly unnatural act had entrenched itself into the society and culture of the South, almost as if it were an agricultural crop. Although the song did not originate from Holiday, her first performance of it in 1939 in New York City and successive recording of the song became highly popular for their emotional power (“Strange fruit,” 2017). The lyrics in the song highlight the contrast between the natural beauty and apparent sophistication of the agricultural South with the brutal violence of lynchings. Holiday communicates these rather disturbing lyrics through a peculiarly serene vocal delivery, accompanied by a hymn-like
Thus, Jefferson was brought to Chicago. However, for some reason Lemon Jefferson recorded some of these songs under false names. He decided to go by the names Deacon L.J. Bates and Elder J.C. Brown. The Blues became the defining black sound and it was Blind Lemon Jefferson that was the frontrunner of this image. The video “Folk America ep01 Birth of a Nation” talks about Jefferson’s style of music as something that had never been seen before. His voice was referred to as a street corners voice and his guitar style was very free rolling. Many Blues Musicians tried to imitate his form but nobody could do it quite like him. His first recordings were gospels and his descendants became preachers and musicians. In the same video, one of his descendants Reverend Curtis Jefferson reveals that many believed the Blues to be the Devil’s music. He argues that Jefferson was simply telling his story and spoke “his soul through his guitar”. The Justification for Jefferson playing secular music was that the actual words being sung did not matter as much as where the heart
Billie Jean King is known as not only one of the best female tennis players of all time, but also as one of the leading activist in the LGBT community. Billie Jean King was born on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California. As a child King decided that she wanted to be the best women’s tennis player in the world, and she accomplished her goal in 1967. She went on to win multiple grand slams and went down as one of the best to ever play the game. King was married for 22 years from 1965 to 1987 even though she came out as lesbian in 1981 amid a lawsuit from her former female lover. King was one of the first openly gay athletes and she did not shy away from the public scrutiny that came along with it at the time. She lost all her sponsorships
Not only did Davis serve as an architype for upcoming musicians, he exposed his audience to the realities of an oppressed American by way of his music. Growing up he had to work harder than his white peers to get the same chance, and he took note of this. According to the book, Miles Davis: the definitive biography, Davis commented on using injustice as his motivation, “It made me so mad that I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn. If I hadn’t met that prejudice, I probably wouldn’t have had as much drive in my work” (Carr 6). Injustice made a profound influence on Miles. During the civil rights movement Miles Davis became a voice for the black community. Because of Davis’s initiative to deliver music that would bring strength and truth to the African American community, jazz music had become a symbol of power and strength instead of “black music.” In a book by Ingrid Monson she speaks about the relationship between the civil rights movement and jazz: “the defiance and resistance of jazz musicians has often been confused with romanticized politics of style that views music’s relationship to the civil rights struggle as mostly symbolic. Here the defiant attitude of musicians…has been viewed as the heart and soul of the relationship between music and politics” (Monson 56-57). Miles Davis was a manifestation of the
Chuck Berry was a very dominant part of history and rock & roll. Berry, a St. Louis native adopted country, blues and R&B inspirations to create a singular guitar technique. Berry paired these skills with astounding charisma, extraordinary stage moves and an expressive voice that was projected more to *white youth and anyone young at heart, guaranteeing his status as one of rock & roll's first great hit makers. Berry was a big player in “The first wave” of rock & roll artists. Historians say Elvis Presley cracked open the door for rock & roll, BUT Chuck Berry kicked it wide open with his signature duck walk over it for good measure. In Berry's hands, the tune featured lyrics confronting an unfortunate battle with an enthusiastic wish that his
The Great Melancholy hit tardy in the 1920s and remained throughout the 1930s, heavily influencing the music of the time. Some music like blues and country reflected the hardships faced by many, while most other popular music like immense band and swing kept an upbeat feeling in the air. Popular music accommodated its purport in providing an illusion from the rigorous conditions in the Thirties. Many musical compositions addressed the current issues while remaining optimistic, while others addressed the mood with a more tongue-in-cheek approach. It was at this time that swing music commenced its reign of the music world, with an upbeat rhythm and
After many of World War II’s harmful effects, the 1950s served as a period of time of musical change that reflected the dynamic of society as well as the traditional norms and values. Many factors contributed to this transformation. For example, the civil rights movement heightened many racial tensions, and the music produced consequently manifested this tension in itself. Rock-n-roll and R&B music universalized music typically associated with African-Americans, and many African-American musicians gained fame; however, as with any relatively-widespread success, there were many musicians as well who missed their opportunities due to the same racial segregation. While “radical” genres such as R&B and rock-n-roll laid the foundation for music future forms of music, the standard pop, jazz, and country music adhered to traditional values, and thus continued to maintain popularity amidst phenomena such as the Elvis craze.
Schoettler, Carl. "Tinged with Sorrow but Sung with Love; Blues: `Strange Fruit,' the Mournful Dirge about Lynching, is Forever Linked with Billie Holiday. A New Book about the Singer from Baltimore Recalls the Moment She Introduced it." The Baltimore Sun Jun 13 2000: 1.F. ProQuest Central. 16 Nov. 2011
Columbia Records found major success with the invention of the vinyl record, which revolutionized music in America (“The History of American Music”). A few years later in 1896, a new genre of music called “Ragtime” was developed and began the Jazz age, which died down in 1918, but came back in full swing in the 1920’s (“The Jazz Age”). During this time musicians such as, Louis Armstrong, a trumpeter, singer, film star and comedian, became a large influence in American music with songs such as “What a Wonderful World” and “Star Dust” (“Louis Armstrong; Biography”). The Jazz Age, also known as the Roaring 20’s, glorified the city life in America, making several farmers and countrymen to migrate to the city in massive numbers. Although the Jazz Age was a great time to live in, many people believed that the American culture seemed to have lost it moral compass with numbers showing the young generation to lose faith in God and the
Starting in the early 20th century, the new form of music called "jazz" was quickly picked up by the young people of the time, and was also quickly stricken with censorship, because of the style itself, and what it carried in terms of social attachment. "Jazz was different because it broke the rules -- musical and social. It featured improvisation over traditional structure, performer over composer, and black American experience over conventional white sensibilities."(pbs.org "The Devil's Music: 20s Jazz".) The fact that jazz, being associated with the primarily African American artists of the genre, faced an additional form of censorship: racial discrimination. Jazz was quickly labeled "The Devil's Music", and was rejected by numerous venues, radio stations, and parents who believed that jaz...