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“There was a Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America/ Stolen from Africa, brought to America/ Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.”-Bob Marley
The lyrics of buffalo soldiers by Bob Marley states we, African American, were taken from our homeland against our will and began fighting as soon as we arrived to America. The Buffalo Soldiers are African American soldiers who served on the western frontier battling Indians and protecting settlers. The soldiers fought for freedom and were forced to fight against the Native Americans for the whites. Bob Marley emphasizes how African Americans fought for a country that continues to oppress them with unfair treatment, racial injustice, and money making schemes.
Buffalo soldiers were young African American men and women who fought against Native Americans to help conquer the land from them and build this country for whites Buffalo Soldiers includes two regiments of black cavalry. The 9th and 10th cavalries formed after the congress passed a legislation in 1866 this allowed African Americans to enlist in the military. In verse 3, “If you know your history/Then you would know where you
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During the song, Marley says “Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta” he was protesting slavery and racism by using words “Buffalo Soldier” and comparing them to Rastafarian’s. Rastafari is a religion their distinctively dress wearing dreadlocks and smoking of marijuana. Accordingly, in the lyrics, it implies how the whites misled the African’s by saying if you fight against the native American’s for us you will gain your freedom but, instead of giving them their freedom they turned the Africans into their slaves. Africans having to unintentionally fight for something they had no control over but, they also wanted to fight to earn respect from the whites so they could have their
“When (African-American soldiers) were told they couldn’t be in the Army, he said, ‘Yes, we can,’ and as a Tuskegee Airman he showed them it could be done,” she said. The airman worked hard to show that black men could get the job done just as white men. After receiving his pilot’s license, he joined the other black troops in the army. He was one of the 1,000 black airmen who trained in Tuskegee, during World War II. “Bob embodied the courage and strength of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Whereas, Wheatley who shares her “actual” experience of being kidnapped from her native lane. Although these two artists have similar view points, they interpret different concepts that separate the two. While listening to Redemption , Marley mentioned "But my hand was made strong, by the hand of the almighty, we forward in this generation, triumphantly" from those few quotes Marley obviously believes that through all the pain and agony of slaves, his generation will be able to create a difference. Next, “Old pirates, yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships” refers to the slave traders who robbed the Africans by selling them into slavery, So him using “I” is referring to the whole African nation. Marley also talks about the importance of escaping mental emancipation . Break through the mind set that we as African Americans are worthless and understand our power as a nation and the difference we could
The song was written to motivate young men to join the army, idealizing soldiers as patriotic “son[s] of liberty” who would make their fathers, girlfriends, and country proud. The US soldiers are shown as the liberators of
...uality, nature, anti-materialism and self-reliance. His music was purposed towards encouraging people to believe in their choices and decisions rather than believing in the teachings of societal institutions. Bob Marley criticized religion is an institution which instead of uniting people ends up separating them. He also warns people not to suffer in the name of going to even and live an afterlife. Rather, they should live in heaven on earth that is, they should be happy in their lives. Bob Marley’s song corresponds to transcendentalist who believed that people should not conform to the normal life patterns. Transcendentalists, just like Bob Marley, believed that one derives happiness from what he/she believes is right no matter what people think or the consequences. When one stands up for his/her rights, he/she does not follow what has been stipulated or instructed.
The Buffalo Soldiers was mostly known as the African American Cavalry who was in war of the American army during 1867-1896. They were on the frontier fighting against the Indians. The Buffalo soldiers was the black African American who fighted for the United States Army but not beside the whites. The Indians called African American Buffalo Solders because their strength, ability of a buffalo, and also they had similar texture in the hair of a buffalo that hung of the back of a buffalo neck. When they won’t fighting against the Indians, They helped build forts, railroads work, and also as travel stagecoaches, helped protect others such as travelers and settlers . They were treated harshly; they weren’t receiving good conditions of things that they need to stay healthy as they need to be.
Throughout American history, African Americans have had to decide whether they belonged in the United States or if they should go elsewhere. Slavery no doubtfully had a great impact upon their decisions. However, despite their troubles African Americans made a grand contribution and a great impact on both armed forces of the Colonies and British. "The American Negro was a participant as well as a symbol."; (Quarles 7) African Americans were active on and off the battlefield, they personified the goal freedom, the reason for the war being fought by the Colonies and British. The African Americans were stuck in the middle of a war between white people. Their loyalty was not to one side or another, but to a principle, the principle of liberty. Benjamin Quarles' book, The Negro in the American Revolution, is very detailed in explaining the importance of the African American in the pre America days, he shows the steps African Americans took in order to insure better lives for generations to come.
...on American soil, they were treated with disrespect and forced into a life of servitude and pain. However, they were able to change adapt and find hope even when it didn’t seem as though there was any to be found. The African American culture has been greatly shaped around what their ancestors were put through and the struggles that they endured. The pain and suffering that was inflicted among them will never be forgotten and will forever be apart of the African American culture.
Rastafarian people share similarities with their role models, the Israelites, from the Biblical Book of Exodus. They are connected through Rastafarianism, a postcolonial religion the Jamaicans created, where the oppressed people sought to return to their ancestral promised land. Songs from Bob Marley such as “Africa Unite,” “Buffalo Soldier,” and “Exodus” display the Jamaican’s overcoming the European colonialism, how urgent it is to unite as one African body, and to return to Ethiopia. This is just like the Book of Exodus when Moses led his fellow oppressed Israelite community out of Egypt from the harsh ruler and returned to Israel. Although the Jamaican people did not make it back as one to their desired destination, much of the Rastafarian period was the recreation of the exodus Moses led.
”(pg.135) He believed that if the white community could see that they were willing to fight alongside them for the country, it would unite them in war and on the home front. When the African American soldiers returned home, they were not welcomed with equality, but with the same discrimination, lynching, and unjust they fought against. “ We return. We return from fighting.
Bob Marley expresses his belief that music is a message and route to freedom in the song “Trench town.”
Bob Marley was never taught how to sing he simply had a generous voice that was lovely to hear. In his voice there are many timbres that add to the style of the song. He uses different dynamics in his voice to enhance soulful vocals. The piece is written in 4/4 times, but his voice is largo therefore the piece is extended to be an ample amount of time. The key signature is D major containing F Sharp and C Sharp this is important because F comes between beats 2 and 3 during the chorus, this is recognized as offbeat syncopation. It was impressing to find the use of a coda. The coda is commonly found in classical music but can be seen on other genres of music. The connection that is seen through the elements of music was a remarkable observation for me. Bob Marley pioneered the development of reggae, a highly syncopated musical style that take influences from horn parts of American rhythm and Blues as well as funky electric bass guitars that embodies a Caribbean beat at the same time. It is my view that Bob Marley intended for his music to have a message of unity symbolized by the simplistic sounds yet, but the complicated underlying patterns and beats to his work symbolize the controversies the social and political
Bob Marley was born in Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica. As a youngster he moved to Trench-town with his mother where his music career was born. Growing up, Marley grew close to other children his age who shared his interest in music and spreading the knowledge of unity. Reggae music has always contained a positive message and promotes this message to people everywhere. Through love and understanding, reggae music breaks down barriers and invites peace and unity as a way of life. This ideal was also encouraged through the religious practice of Rastafari, rooted in Africa. The people who follow this religion make it a way of life. They speak out against poverty, oppression, and inequality. Marley spoke for peace in the world through many different mediums, one of which was the unique presentation of his message. Marley?s dominant appearance in the media and spread of his music had a very large influence on the views of political figures.
Marley was born into Jamaica’s poverty and it is where he developed a strong love of reggae and became a Rastafari. Reggae, evolved from another musical style called Ska in the late 1960’s, is considered the voice of the ‘oppressed’ peoples. Many reggae lyrics are politicalised and centre on themes of freedom and fighting for it. (Cooper, 2014)
Marley is illustrating the obliteration of Africans by slavery. These words describe how Africans were taken from their homeland that was filled with great resources and wealth to be brought to the Caribbean to work for Europeans on plantations. However, they remained strong because of God. Now the descendants of the slaves are given the chance of having the right to life that their ancestors never had. The next lines “Won 't you help to sing / These songs of freedom? / Because all I ever have / Redemption songs” (9-12). Marley is urging the Black community to sing songs of redemption. He is expressing that all he ever had was
King, Stephen; Jensen, Richard,(1995) Bob Marley's "Redemption Song": The rhetoric of reggae and Rastafari Journal of Popular Culture 29.3