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How Did Blues Music Influence The Civil Rights Movement

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How Did Blues Music Influence The Civil Rights Movement
Sarah Anne Stevenson
Dave Stockum
English Language and Comprehension
20 November 1999
Blues Music and its influence on integration From years 1505 to 1870, the world underwent the largest forced migration in history:
West Africa was soon to be convulsed by the arrival of Europeans and become the advent of the transatlantic slave trade. Ships from Europe, bound for America, appeared on the horizon, and their captains and sailors-carrying muskets, swords, and shackles-landed on the coast, walked up the beach in their strange clothes, looked around, and demanded slaves. A horrific chapter in history had begun, and neither Africa nor America would be the same again. (Awmiller 14)
Approximately ten million Africans were brought across the seas to the Americas to be manipulated into slavery (14). It became apparent that these African men, women and children were meant to generate money. They were meant to work harsh labor, yet they were no longer meant to have a voice. A
…show more content…
The majority of white teenagers, and those within other age brackets, began to see the significance of the Blues in music and lifestyle, and all were worshipping the music and its musicians-white and black. It was because of Blues music that white kids ventured into black areas and had a sense of "fair play" long before the civil rights movement (Blues and Rock). As there will always be, there were those people who were disgusted with this sort of music, behavior, belief, and lifestyle. However, historically and recently, this is disregarded as "conservative fluff" and discarded in a hurry. Once the Blues got this far, there was no mercy and no turning back. It seemed as though Blues music did more for the civil rights movement than Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education (Blues and Rock). Blues was similar to a small leak on a dam, and once the water broke through, it was best to watch it run its

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