Untitled

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Low quality video, high quality zine!!!

Learn about resistance through the popularity of blues music written by African American artists during the 1920′s here: 

http://issuu.com/clairemorrisethn2/docs/country-blues_winter-2017

@circulationsofdifference

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Final Zine

http://issuu.com/clairemorrisethn2/docs/country-blues_winter-2017

Link to my final zine.

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First two Zine Pages

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Notebook 3

Claire Morris   A13938300

Section: A08   Yessica

2/5/16

Notebook 3: Relational Analysis

To further understand how W.C (William Christopher) Handy shaped blues music, I decided to research more about him in particular to understand his background and the significance it provides to his music. Handy was born in Florence, Alabama in 1873 and he was the son of former slaves. He was initially discouraged from pursuing music as a profession, but he quit his job as a schoolteacher to focus on a job as a musical performer. He formed a band called the Lauzette Quartet in 1892 and wanted to perform at the Chicago World's Fair later that year, but the fair was postponed until 1893, the band was forced to split. He faced difficult times of poverty and homelessness, the exact kind of times that blues music aims to express. Fortunately, by the 1900’s, Handy had settled down in Huntsville, Alabama with a wife and a job. Then, one day while waiting at a bus stop in Tutwiler, he saw a “‘a lean, loose-jointed negro... plunking a guitar beside me... As he played he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in the manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars.’ Handy called it, ‘the weirdest music I had ever heard,’ but then added, ‘The tune did stay in my mind’” (Nager). He captured this unique style of music in his first commercial hit, “Memphis Blues”. Yet, due to exploitive white businessmen, he signed a bad contract and reaped little of the monetary rewards from his song.

This unfortunate outcome of Handy’s hit record outlines some of the discriminations during the time in the South. Jim Crow laws were very prominent during the 1920s and 30s, with blacks almost being completely segregated from whites. This intense segregation led to black erasure, such as Handy not receiving proper credit for a song he wrote and produced. In addition, the quick adoption of the Southern blues by the majority of the white community and changing it to fit their own musical style can be seen as black erasure due to anti-black sentiments as well. The importance of the Southern blues was to express the hardships that African American people felt while living in post-reconstruction, segregated South. By exposing it to the vast majority of the population, often without due credit to the African American artists, the true meaning of the songs is erased or ignored, similarly to how often the struggles that the African American community have faced are erased as well. While music is meant to be developed and shared, it is also important to recognize the inspirations behind the style of music, especially when it is one as important as country blues developed in Jim Crow Southern states.

Works Cited

"American Roots Music." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.

Banerji, Robin. "WC Handy's Memphis Blues: The Song of 1912." BBC News. BBC, 30 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20769518>.

Kopp, Ed. "A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. N.p., 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.

Nager, Larry. "W.C. Handy." Memphis Music Hall of Fame. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. <http://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/wchandy/>.

Okocha, Victor. "Handy, W.C. (1873-1958)." Blackpast.org. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://miscellanynews.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/04/17204278226_d8fc95ee3a_b.jpg?x51794>.

Scaruffi, Piero. "A History of Jazz Music." A History of Jazz Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.

"W.C. Handy." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 27 Oct. 2015. Web. 6 Feb. 2017. <http://www.biography.com/people/wc-handy-39700#memphis-blues>.

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Notebook 2

Claire Morris   A13938300

Section A08: Yessica

1/30/17

Notebook 2: Intersectional Analysis of my Object

My object is the jazz song, Memphis Blues by W.C Handy, published in 1912. My original object from Notebook 1 was just jazz music in general and was too broad to use as a specific object. Therefore, I’m going to focus on the first, popular jazz song written and produced by an African American artist to explore the topic of Circulations of Blackness.

My object is an audio file (link: www.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZGqBmlZR3dc&usg=AFQjCNG1R6afupboeGlvsAPVyR_20-OUhw) , but the image included is the album cover for the record (link: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3830/12238317925_3e0cc4693b_b.jpg). Handy described his music style as “one widely used by Negro roustabouts, honky-tonk piano players, wanderers and others of their underprivileged but undaunted clan from Missouri to the Gulf [of Mexico]” (Banerji). It was also surprisingly well received by the general public, a fact not anticipated by Handy at all. It is widely regarded today as starting the blues craze of the early 1900’s and inspiring many other musicians to adopt the new and unique style. It also paved the way for African American people to express themselves through a serious style of music, away from the racist minstrelsy of the past that was clownish and immature.

The success of this one song in particular, and the rising popularity of African American composed jazz music shows the breaking of the binds of Whiteness. Today, there are quite a few successful African American artists, singers, and producers in the music industry. However, back in the 1800’s, African American people were not considered to be good enough to produce music. This was during a time period where not being a white person meant not being a full person at all and not being able to contribute any artistic expression into society. As we read in “In the Wake”, the first female African American poet, Phillis Wheatley, to publish any work was not considered a true poet simply because she was black. Handy was able to break down this barrier of whiteness and become popular in the community as an African American musician with his own, new style of music.

While the most obvious ideologies behind the significance of this song is about race and the act of ascending into whiteness, there is also the influence of class and gender. Handy himself said he drew inspiration to create the jazz style from analyzing the music styles found in the rural, poor areas of the deep south. The way that they lowered their thirds and sevenths and played their instruments uniquely all helped inspire him to write this new style of music and therefore spread not only bring the African American culture into popularity, but the lower class African American culture that was not often recognized by the majority of upper class white people. In addition, the spread of a new type of dance music also helped drive women to become more independent in daily social life. When swing-style jazz music became popular, women often went out unsupervised to dance through the night, something that would not have been deemed acceptable before the rise of jazz music. In this way, Handy’s composition of the first popular jazz song brought the lively, lower class African American culture into the relatively uptight and defined white, popular culture of the time.

Works Cited:

Banerji, Robin. "WC Handy's Memphis Blues: The Song of 1912." BBC News. BBC, 30 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20769518>.

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Notebook 1

Claire Morris   A1393830069

Ethnic Studies 2: A08

1/23/17

Notebook 1: An “Object” that Circulated Transnationally

For an object that circulated transnationally, I picked American folk music that was cultivated by the African American community at the time. This will tie into the topic of Circulation of Blackness, since it has to do with the circulation of black music under the title of “white American folk music” and how the black community heavily influenced the development of this iconic American music genre while also being an outcast group in anti-black American society.

In the beginning of the 20th century, American folk music described music made by white Americans of European descent, usually in the South. However, over time, folk music started to incorporate the blues and jazz styles of music played by African American people.  Even the banjo, an instrument that we consider to be in stereotypical American folk music, is of African descent. Often, black styles of music were slightly changed in order to appeal to the white community at the time, like the emergence of swing dancing. Today, many songwriters draw inspiration from these folk tunes passed down through the generations, so songs created nearly a century ago still continue to influence society and music in the modern generation.

The blues style of music became popular after 1912 when the songwriter W.C Handy published his song “Memphis Blues”, and later the “St. Louis Blues” in 1914, which set a precedent for all blues songs to follow. The blues style was probably developed by different musicians before Handy, but they did not become popular because of the strong anti-black sentiments of America at the time. Jazz was a way to express how African Americans overcame adversity, expressing frustration, and just simply expressing feeling. The blues did not gain traction outside of the South and Midwest regions until the 1930’s and 40’s. However, once it did spread to other parts of the country, it continued to evolve with the different social climates into different sub genres of music.

Another form of music that arose from the streets of New Orleans from 1880 was jazz. Unlike blues music, jazz music was adopted readily by many different cultures, whether or not they understood the origins of the music. Yet, many white people were not receptive of this genre of music because it seemed to unsophisticated to them. Black musicians were also not allowed to record because of the racial discrimination at the time and that white musicians were jealous of their style of music and did not want to be overtaken by such a “clownish” type of music. Instead, jazz music took off in densely populated African American urban areas, such as Harlem or Chicago.

Works Cited

"American Roots Music." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.

Kopp, Ed. "A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. N.p., 16 Aug. 2005. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.

Scaruffi, Piero. "A History of Jazz Music." A History of Jazz Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.

"The History of African-American Music." The African-American Experience, Primary Source Media, 1999. American Journey. Student Resources in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2152000681/SUIC?u=sain31170&xid=80503677. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017