African American Artistical Expresion through Music
...y since the time of the Sorrow Songs mainly because of the uplift of the African American community. In Souls, Du Bois points out, “Words and music have lost each other and new cant phrases of a dimly understood theology have displaced the older sentiment.”(159) Another questions stands as to whether the evolution of black musical and artistic expression has changed in a positive aspect, or as Du bois points out, have words and music lost each other? Du Bois felt that the songs were soon forgotten. Back in the thirties the songs our ancestors once sang became a mockery and caricature for the beginnings of the “minstrel stage”. (155) The songs were a source of entertainment in the blackface industry. Du Bois expresses the caricature had sought out to spoil the beauty and articulation of black Henzy 2 musical expression. In many aspects of the issue, Du Bois has a valid point. The thought of mocking the feelings of struggle of our ancestors is disbelief to many and a reality to those in the thirties. Still, the true Negro folk songs are still alive in the hearts of those who have heard them and sung in the hearts of the Negro people. According to Du Bois, the slave spoke to the world when expressing his or her feelings in a Sorrow Song and the words were both expressed naturally and articulately. Du Bois stated, “…the Negro f...