“American Popular Music”
-Race used to play a major role in American Pop music
Popular culture has become integrated over the years
-Minstrel Shows in early 1800s involved white men singing and performing in blackface
Instruments, songs, dance moves were simulated by white men for other white people’s entertainment
I don’t agree with the argument that blacks weren’t allowed to perform on stages in front of white audiences so the white men took it upon themselves to share the culture
I think the men who started the minstrel shows were attempting to mock black people to get laughs but they used the argument that they enjoyed the music and dance as a shield to defend themselves from appearing to be the white supremacist they really were
-I found it interesting that Irish immigrants back then decided to partake in the minstrel shows to be seen as more white
This is a luxury that black people don’t have
-The musical sound depicted in minstrel shows is now the signature sound for country music