Blues People

This FYP approaches the issue of racial relations in the U.S. through the prisms of blues, folk, and popular music. Beginning with the creation of spirituals during slavery, we will explore the ways in which music has tended to draw African-Americans and whites together, and how it has, at other times, been manipulated to reinforce separation between the races. Specific musicians will help us to tell the story of the ways in which American racial history and music culturally intersect—particularly during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950-60s. The evolution of the blues in the early twentieth century pioneered by musicians such as W.C. Handy, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson inspired the creation of jazz (Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, among many others) and, in the 1940s-50s, rhythm and blues (Fats Domino, Little Richard) and its racial tempering into rock ‘n’ roll (Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix). Gospel music, deriving from spirituals, will also be considered, along with its transformation into soul music (Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin) during the Civil Rights era. We’ll conclude the semester by looking at the appropriation of blues and other African-American musics during the second half of the twentieth century by white musicians—The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton. Though a musical background is not required, the course can include a performative component for the musically inclined.