Art is all around us. You may see colorful murals or hear music blasting. The artists behind these pieces often try to tell stories. Art has long told the stories of Black history too. Musicians sang songs about enslaved people. Black heroes crafted art about their experiences. Let’s dance through Black history.
“The caged bird sings of freedom.” Maya Angelou wrote those words. She penned more than 30 books. Angelou spoke about race. “Still I Rise” is a famous Angelou poem. In the poem, Angelou insists that nothing can hold her back. The piece ends with these lines:
Bringing the gifts that my
gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Other art forms have helped Black people rise up. One was jazz music. African Americans created jazz in the late 1800s. It was popular in New Orleans, Louisiana. Musicians told Black stories through their songs. For example, Billie Holiday sang a famous tune in 1939. Many call it the first protest song.
Jazz was key in the civil rights movement. That movement took place in the 1950s and 1960s. In it, protesters spoke out against . Nina Simone wrote songs about this time. One was “Four Women.” The tune touched on the that Black women faced. Piano player Duke Ellington demanded equality. He would not play in front of audiences. And trumpet player Louis Armstrong spoke out about segregation in schools.
Black artists have used paint to tell their stories as well. For example, Jacob Lawrence painted scenes from African American life. One of his collections focused on the Great Migration in the 1900s. At that time, millions of Black people left the southern United States. They wanted to escape poverty and racism. Lawrence’s paintings show Black people traveling and working. They also show the challenges Black people faced.
Lawrence once said: “I do not look upon the story of the Blacks in America as a separate experience to the American culture.” He called it “part of the American experience as a whole.”
Updated January 31, 2023, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Alexa Tirapelli
