Social Psychological Violence through the Control of Musical Freedom

By Greta Elbers

Pull-quotes:

“These acts of forced performance and control over creative expression were intended to strip African Americans’ of control over their own self-definition, depriving them of hope, perseverance and intellectual freedom.”

“The intentional personification exemplified through the lyrics of “Without a Song” through the use of African American dialect, syntax, and diction, demonstrate Eliscu and Youmans’ attempt at controlling public perceptions of African Americans.”

“Throughout American history, while Whites have encouraged performance under their supervision, African Americans have found a way to create community, build meaningful relationships, and enforce positive self-image and definition despite the constant battle to undermine their existence.”

Author Intro: “Social Psychological Violence through the Control of Musical Freedom” is an analytical essay which illuminates structural violence theory through the examination of how music has been used as a tool of subjugation of African Americans both through appropriation and the control of musical freedom. This paper attempts to highlight the ways in which music has been used by African Americans as a tool of resistance, resilience, and joy while simultaneously being used by Whites as a tool of control, and domination.

This paper was written in the fall of 2020 in Professor Jennifer Bess’ class, “Power & Privilege in the United States” where we were tasked with finding a primary text from the Jim Crow or Antebellum periods which we could use to demonstrate David Gil’s theory of structural violence. The primary text that I chose is titled “Without a Song” and came from the 1920’s musical Great Day. I chose to shape my analysis around two primary aspects of “Without a Song,” the lyrics, and the performance. My intention through this paper was to show the history of the use and abuse of African American creativity in song, dance, and performance for the entertainment of Whites in order to create an argument for breaking this cycle finally giving credit where credit is due.

 

Faculty nominator intro: n/a (student-submitted)

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