The conversation surrounding Black music as well as appropriation has been a ripe one in pop culture discussions for a handful of years, as open dialogue around white supremacy has become more commonplace. Hip hop and R&B are usually the first genres to be brought up in these discussions. But what is it about these genres that creates such a powerful cultural connector that people all over the world, from all backgrounds and of all races have grasped onto? Why is it important to acknowledge the Black roots of these cultural influencers? And what do genres birthed or bloomed in America, from country to rock to punk to disco, and even psychedelic music spanning all decades have in common? The blues are at the root of all of this music. And the roots of the blues go way back, long before a commercial music market accessible to the masses, to the days of slavery in the Deep South. However, the significance of how deeply this Black musical history has shaped our world is lost on many.

While most common knowledge of blues history in its direct relation to Black history in America dates back to the 1920s and 30s, some of the information that pops up on the first page of Google when you type “blues history” into the search bar actually completely omits the Black origins of blues music. Some of it even fails to include many of the most key figures in this timeline, most of which are Black individuals. The white supremacist thread intertwined throughout the music industry at its roots becomes very palpable once the layers of this research are pulled back.

The roots of the blues date way back to the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Individuals forced into slavery that were kidnapped from different tribes, cultures, and countries were able to communicate through song along the treacherous, traumatic and often deadly voyage across the Atlantic. Many accounts suggest that song was used as a primary form of communication amongst those held captive on the journey.

The dates of the beginning of the slave trade vary amongst different historical timelines and historians, but it is agreed upon that 1619 is the year when the first twenty African enslaved people* arrived at the shore of Jamestown, Virginia on a privateer. This marked the beginning of the subsequent development of plantations in the Southern States: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and later New York. During the earliest days of slavery in America, Black enslaved people* would be tasked by their white masters to work all day in the fields, and consequences, often violent and sometimes lethal, were in place for those that chose not to follow the enforcements. One of the enforced workfield rules was that talking amongst workers was strictly prohibited. However, singing and humming were permitted and thus, it was natural that this became an important form of communication between workers in the plantation fields. 

Often, when someone was sick or missing, or an important piece of information needed to be shared amongst the community of African enslaved peoples* within the plantation system, singing the information was the only way to express it without being punished or possibly killed. Over time, many of the tunes hummed and sang became folk tunes amongst workers, known as “work songs”. The call and response style of these songs which can still be heard in modern blues can be traced back to much of the traditional music of African countries. As time went on and African enslaved peoples* and their descendants began to forge their own culture on American soil, the largely Christian belief system carried by white masters was adopted. Since enslaved people* were prohibited from reading, they were not allowed to study The Bible and this lack of accessibility led to the creation of spirituals: songs about faith, revelation, and the stories of the doctrine as experienced by this community and told through song. These songs continued to be used as an important form of communication amongst enslaved people* without knowledge of their masters, and were often used to plan escapes and other events in secrecy. Spirituals can be considered a type of folk music belonging to descendants of African enslaved peoples* of the Deep South, as these songs were passed on and learned orally from person to person (like reading, writing was also not something that slaves were permitted to do). It was from this development that The Blues were first born. Some of the oldest and most covered songs in history are African American spirituals: “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child”, “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” and “Wade In The Water” just to name a few.

It was not until over 200 years later, in 1860, that the civil war over the morality, validity and inappropriate nature of slavery’s legality in these states would begin to take shape, after the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked the 7 states states of the Deep South (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) to attempt to secede from the United States in what has since been known as The Confederacy. The economies of these states relied solely on the slave labour of African Americans mostly from cotton and the plantation system. As a result, the wealthy white communities of these states felt that white supremacy and the institution of slavery was threatened by Lincoln’s presidency, as his platform opposed the expansion of the slave system into the western states. 

Inevitably, the beginning of the American Civil War was 1861. After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, many enslaved people* were nominally freed. However, because African Americans were only afforded few rights and spaces to gather, as a result of Jim Crow laws, and were often not allowed in bars owned and occupied by white people, the first juke joints or "barrelhouses" were created. These were informal establishments for socializing, drinking, dancing, and music that existed in inconspicuous areas such as at rural crossroads on the outskirts of town, in abandoned or ramshackled buildings, where white people were unlikely to frequent. Owners of these joints would make money by selling homemade liquor (moonshine), selling food and offering affordable accommodation. The term 'juke' is thought to come from the word 'jug' in Gullah, a Creole language, which means rowdy or unkempt.

It was at this point that many of the spirituals and work songs learned in the fields began to evolve into what is known today as blues, as Black folks began gaining access to musical instruments. However, at the time, certain instruments such as pianos were reserved for white people of a higher class. Known as a lower class and less elegant instrument, the guitar, then, was most often the instrument to accompany a solo performer singing blues songs (notably, the origins of the guitar and banjo likely came from ancestral 4-stringed African instruments, such as the bolon, brought to Spain by African Moors in 9th century AD). With little access to western music combined with the innate desire to create their own cultural music, African American musicians of this era began to incorporate “bent” notes - notes not on the standard western musical scale that vary in pitch, as many of the originating work songs incorporated a hollering vocalization that spanned notes in different keys. These notes would become known as "blue notes", and are defining symbols of Black music history, as blues music now stands to have its own scale and an entire section of musical theory behind it that comes from this history.

(stay tuned for part II)

*Edit: As we collectively work to dismantle white supremacy and colonization, it is important to note the ways in which these systems can be internalized and perpetuated through the conditioned language that we use. Parts 1 and 2 of Popular Music, White Supremacy and The Blues originally used the term “slaves” to refer to African people enslaved in the USA. This has been corrected to “enslaved peoples(s)”, or omitted altogether where appropriate.”

sources: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/02/birth-of-blues-and-jazz/

https://www.britannica.com/art/blues-music

https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history

https://spirituals-database.com/the-negro-spiritual/

https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/history/blues-history/timeline

http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/songs-of-survival-and-songs-of-freedom-during-slavery/

https://charlottebluessociety.org/blues-timeline