Digital History

RACE IN MUSIC

When White people think of rap music, the majority of people will attribute it with Black people. Rap is Black people music. Blacks have that same attitude when discussing country. Country is White people music. We attribute the sound of music with specific races, which makes some sense since its what we’ve been programmed to think/see through societal norms.

When country first started out, it was Black people music; inept country folk who lived in the South that played the banjo and lived a simple life. The South was considered Black people land, and still is in some areas. That’s why I found it weird when we first began to talk about country music and how it was considered “Black” people music. Besides Dierks Bentley, I couldn’t name a black country singer. Same goes for rap. Besides Eminem, I couldn’t tell you another white rapper.

I may feel that way from the perspective I had growing up. I’m always pictured city life and urban landscapes as the area where a majority of Black people reside while White folk kick it back in the country side. The messages in rap are typically from low-income survival stories from living in the streets of said urban areas. Country songs are always talking about driving trucks down back roads to a creek with beer in hand.

TIME & SPACE

As with many subjects, the concept of time and space is an interesting one. Back before “fast travel” via railroad, time and space was a tricky thing. How did Americans travel from the well established East Coast all the way out to the Wild West? Oh that’s right, horse and carriage. It could take weeks to travel to the West through dangerous wilderness and uneven terrain, so packing light was a necessity.

With the invention of the railroad however, travel was no longer an issue as the time it took to get anywhere was cut in more than half. The railroad itself brought about the invention of another concept: time zones. Before time zones, each county or governed area would keep track of their own time, depending on where in the sky the sun was. This meant that throughout the East Coast, noon was different depending on your physical location. This caused issues with travelers, especially when having to catch trains and such. After some time, four zones were created for all of the United States: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. This kept the time for the United States, constant, regardless of where the sun was positioned in the sky. This is why it may be 9pm and dark in Virginia Beach, VA but still bright as day in Lexington, KY.

Travel wasn’t the only thing that changed due to the railroad though. Back in the day, the growing seasons were taken much more serious. Each crop had it’s own season, so if someone wanted strawberries, you could only eat them during certain times of the year. This is no longer an issue with the breakdown of time and space. Strawberries can now be eaten at all times of the year because they can be imported from all around the globe! Time and space has been compressed with the introduction and continued growth of technology and I cannot imagine how much more it will change in my life time.

MINSTREL SHOWS

The history of Minstrel Shows is an interesting one. Becoming popular before and after the Civil War, Minstrel Shows were put on by white people, pretending to be black. Whites would paint their face and any exposed skin, black, creating the now controversial “black face”. White people couldn’t fathom enjoying entertainment from Black people, but jumped at the chance to watch Whites portray Blacks.

The shows were over exaggerated representations of Blacks, their home life and their music. Blacks were typically shown as low-level country bumpkins that could barely speak in full coherent sentences. Black folk music was all over the place and upbeat and fun to listen to, but once again, only when Whites played it. Whites flocked to Minstrel Shows and thoroughly enjoyed the cultural appropriation of their former slaves. Black culture was disgusting to the average White person, but if Whites portrayed Black people and their culture, everything was okay. Whites had the power and only became interested in the Black culture once they were the ones creating it.

In the present day, Black-face is a highly controversial topic, with many celebrities being called out for their actions, even on holidays such as Halloween. Cultural appropriation is no longer acceptable and I think it’s great that we have come this far, even if it has taken this long. I think it’s very interesting how uncomfortable people are talking about race, from every perspective. It’s been a touchy subject since the beginning of time and I don’t think people will ever be comfortable conversing about it. I look around in this class and various others and just watch people and their expressions and their body language when race is brought up, by a peer or professor. People have been and I think always will be uncomfortable talking about race relations.

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence is often characterized by a wisdom of worldly things. How much someone knows about certain ideas or concepts.

Alan Turning, a mathematician from WWII became famous for his idea of machine intelligence. His work assisted with the decryption of the NAZI code. For many people, this shows some pretty high intelligence, but of what kind? Sure people can break things down into being “book” smart vs “street” smart, but one can break that down either further. Turning’s machine was intelligent. It gained information and increased its’ knowledge, which allowed it to do its thing.

Many people are turning from this knowledge as intelligence though. Creativity and originality have more of an impact nowadays, especially since access to knowledge is instantaneous with smartphones. People gain knowledge when they are seeking it. The more uncertain they are about a situation, the smarter they can be since they can pick up more information. Now machines can be smart, as Turning’s machine was; run some algorithms and come out with a conclusion. Can a machine think for itself however, and be curious about things it wasn’t programmed to do? That’s the age old question.

Some wouldn’t consider machines “self-intelligent” because of the fact that they aren’t curious beings. Curiosity is often a sign of intelligence. But how are they are not intelligent? Many products literally have the word “SMART” at the beginning. Technology is smart. It mindlessly gathers information when asked for it, when WE ask it to. The day computers start thinking and doing things for themselves (i.e. Artificial Intelligence) we are doomed…

PROPERTY

Property is quite the concept as there are various ways in which it can be applied. It simple terms, property is something that is owned. One has authority over another item or in some instances, another person, and that is where things get dicey. Slaves were considered to be property and for some people, woman are still viewed as being the property of a man. For generations, owning property was one of the only ways to have/show your authority. Property owners were amongst the few that had the right to vote. Not everyone believed that ownership of property was enough. John Locke said that people should only be able to own land IF they labor over it. If the landed isn’t being used to produce something, then the owner should not have the right to keep it from others, which I don’t necessarily agree with.

Intellectual property can also be a point of contention for many. Personal thoughts and inventions can fall under this section. When something is invented, one of the first things the inventor does is get it patented. This way the ownership of the product or idea is theirs, adding a layer of protection for their self interest, allowing them to continue to improve said thing. A famous inventor by the name of Benjamin Franklin did not patent his ideas because he felt that if his idea was worthy, then others should be allowed to continue to improve upon it.

I don’t know if I would agree with this process either though unless I had the rights to the product. Others can improve what they want, but as long as they are using my original concept, I should be awarded some type of payout. I’m not sure if that is what Franklin did or not, but I know I would if I invented something, especially if there was a large impact on society.

AUTHORITY

Authority is an extremely interesting concept. Across all cultures, physical and virtual, something has/gives some the authority to make decisions about others.

In the physical sense, government has the authority to dictate how people should and should not act. They create laws and people must abide by them, regardless of if they agree with them or not. The government of Virginia decided that interracial marriage was illegal. If you broke the law, you would punished. It is widely known that intermixing was not legal either, so if two people had children together, their child would be considered a mulatto (mixed) and would not be given the same opportunities as white folk. At some times, people had so much authority that if someone even looked intermixed, they could decide there if they were colored or not, drastically altering the individuals’ lifestyle.

Virtual authority comes into the picture when describing the anything technological. The biggest argument for authority in technology is of freedom. Apple controls everything. They give their users limited access to the wealth and depth of knowledge provided. The upside to this technique is that usage is very simple and easy to learn. Android on the other hand releases their authority. Android users can access everything on the operating system, changing whatever they feel and making the device, theirs.

Stallman would side with Android on their technique of granting authority to everyday people. He says that sharing makes everything better and everything that is, is built from everything that came before it. This is seen in every high school students’ research resource: Wikipedia. Wikipedia grants users the authority by allowing anyone and everyone to edit their pages. Obviously this is monitored and one needs to provides sources to ensure truth in the edits, but that’s a pretty spectacular method.

 

RACE IN MUSIC

The Great Migration occurred as many Blacks left the South in masses to avoid the intense hate, discrimination, and lynching that were taking place for generations. Until the 20th Century, Blacks were mostly rural folk, mostly because they had been slaves on plantations for God knows how long. A popular destination for recent “migrants” was the great city of Chicago, Illinois. It was here that Blacks had options: vote, find jobs and even attend public schooling.

Sounds like a great time right? Wrong. Northern Blacks were very much aware and weary of the “hick” Blacks coming into their cities. Not only was there hate from the White people, but there was Black on Black crime too as the Northern Blacks felt superior to their “cousins”.

Race records became prominent during this time. Music was recorded for a specific group of people, typically meaning that the music was marketed to Blacks. Integrated bands were not allowed to participate in race records, so if the band was integrated, it had to be kept a secret. Race records came from all over the spectrum, including, but not limited to white cover songs, pop and folk music, and even religious toons. Music was probably one of the only things not segregated, the world just was. This further solidifies that one cannot copyright chords as they are all borrowed and built upon each other. Music from one genre or culture can be translated to another. Music isn’t race specific. It wasn’t then and it isn’t now.

 

CIVIL WAR

I find it very interesting the fact that Abraham Lincoln, a person known throughout history for his involvement with African Americans, said himself that he does not belive that Blacks should fight in the Civil War. Lincoln expressed plenty of issues with having Blacks fighting in the Union. It would most definitely make reconciliation with the South much more difficult if they were being attacked and killed by Blacks. It could also potentially cause the neutral states to side with the South if they saw Blacks sporting the uniform of the Union. The Frederick Douglas even pleaded with Lincoln to allow Blacks in the Union Army, but was ignored.

The other surpising thing about race in the Civil War was how many Blacks fought for the South. When the Confederate Army invaded Frederick, Maryland, many were surprised to see Blacks mixed “promiscuously” with other white soldiers. While under seige, Steiner, the Health Commissioner claimed that the Confederate Army itself had a putrid smell that needed to be ridden, although who knows if that was true.

In 1865, Howell Cobbs stated that Blacks should NOT be in the Army, but Steiner brought up that he personally saw Cobbs on the front line, surrounded by the Black troops in 1862. So who really knows what is true in regards to Steiner’s comments.

 

BEATS

Music is once again ruined for me. Compression has affected how I listen to music and now actively counting beats has done the same. It’s one of those things that once you hear it, you can’t un-hear it.

I think it’s really interesting how the emphasis on a beat can alter a song as much as it does. When we listened to the audience clapping on the wrong beats, it sounded so off and would have definitely distracted me if I was in a band. I’m also curious as to why the switch from placing emphasis on the first and third beats to the second and fourth beats occurred. I guess with the rising popularity of pop songs or the shift away from European background?

Class really got interesting when we switched to listening to period style pieces of the popular songs. It was cool to hear  how placing emphasis on the other beats that were popular back in the day affected the songs so much. Some of the songs were decent, while others were actual trash. Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and “Every Breath you Take” were GARBAGE. The beat was really off and it was uncomfortable to the ears. “Sweet Child o’ Mine” however were alright, especially in the New Orleans style. I really enjoy period style movies, so I thought I would enjoy period style songs. I was wrong, well, for the most part.

I’m curious as to why reggae-ton beats are coming back into popularity. Maybe because it makes the song really easy to dance to? As soon as I hear it, the hips start to sway and it’s fun to listen to. I’m not sure, but I really enjoy the “addition” into the music that I enjoy today.

 

AS WE MAY THINK

“As We May Think” by Vannevar Bush can be compared to the Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows” and how technology has either enhanced or devolved our minds.

Carr makes the argument that technology has also devolved our minds. We can do a lot more with the improvements in technology, but it has rewired our brains. We can’t do as much as we could before, well, without getting distracted. Simple tasks such as reading have become extremely hard to do because our technologically savvy minds are constantly being bombarded with outward information. A big gripe with that however, is Carr’s absence of what happens if we don’t use technology. Does our minds go back to how they were “originally”. Is the damage already done? Carr doesn’t address that.

Bush thinks on a similar page. Technology has improved many aspects of life, but, we seem to be worse off human beings than before. So much information at the tip of our fingertips that can be accessed at a moment’s notice. The world wide web came helped Bush introduce a concept called “the memex”, pretty much an extra appendage for our brain that increases capacity.  It would further assist with creating associations, such as hypertext does for the internet.

My opinion however, is that I don’t see an issue with any of it. Technology has vastly improved the way of life for countless societies. If the internet is a medium to gain information just as books were 30 years ago, then what is the difference? I’m still accessing information and gaining knowledge. Why does it matter if that’s taking place by tapping on a touch screen versus opening the pages of a book?