How Has Racism Changed African American Culture

Words: 2009
Pages: 9

Racism has been a part of American culture since its colonial roots and has been deeply ingrained in the culture for hundreds of years, but as time has moved on these ideas have changed for the better because of a variety of reasons including politics, educational changes, culture, media, and many other reasons. I would like to look at culture and media, specifically music and its role in racial integration and community cohesion in America as it has had a major role in diffusing racist ideas over a long period of time. One genre of music that changed the African American experience in America more than any other was the advent of Jazz, with many cities such as New Orleans and Harlem exploding with talent and musical inspiration in the 20s …show more content…
They were a very good band and that is most likely one of the greatest reasons that they were able to persevere through these hard times and were given another playing job in Hawaii. The recurring theme with all of these artists and poets is the idea that some artists don't believe that the negative baggage of the black experience needs to be brought with the art they produce, but many others disagree to this day and integrate the gritty roots of the black experience in early America through the means of hip hop and primarily Rap, even if it is met with harsh criticism. Tying back to the views of Hughes and Cullen, the B-1 Navy band had to persevere through their very obvious discriminatory surroundings and while this band set a great precedent for generations to come and most likely had lasting implications on the musical education system with many of the B-1 Navy band pursuing teaching in music, this discrimination would persevere to the present day. The views of Hughes and Cullen speaking about music and expressing the black experience in America can be seen in more contemporary forms in America, mainly through the means of Hip Hop and …show more content…
This type of music allowed urban black & latino youths to express their experience which was sometimes labeled as one fixed and defined moment, that being the civil rights movement. The Hip hop movement worked to eliminate the idea that civil rights was a set period of time that ended after the Civil rights era. As many musical ideas before it, Hip hop was met with harsh criticism. A good place to start when talking about hip hop and its role in racial integration is to talk about some major issues. One of these is the major cultural gap between many adults, adult educators, and the hip hop community. Hip-hop in education has not been thoroughly researched yet which is upsetting as it is one of the largest components in the youth experience relating to music and has become a massive industry. There are many reasons for this, including some of the vulgarity affiliated with the genre, but the reason I want to focus on is the rift created in the creative community between civil rights and hip hop models of culture. Early on in the Rap movement many people, parents, and the government had their reservations about this type of