Alexander Brooks

4/11/22

Professor Ian Murphy

English 11000-M

Since both assignments were related and interconnected, I decided to combine my discussion of my genres and audience strategy. I believe that this was an effective way to exemplify both.

Genre Proposal and Audience Strategy

The genres that I am considering for conveying the important message of my research project are visual powerpoint slides, an auditory collection of jazz music, and interviews with different musicians who have been associated with civil rights and social justice movements. The message I am attempting to convey to my audience is the role that jazz music has played fighting against racism. I also intend to show how it has empowered social justice movements. The audience that I will be targeting is one that can not only appreciate jazz music but is also open to wanting to understand its important role as a means of communication. Jazz will be viewed as the voice of the disenfranchised and oppressed.

The reason that I have chosen these specific genres is because they are the most effective way for the audience to experience the importance of jazz music. In my powerpoint, I will visually show how jazz developed as a significant musical form and how it successfully overcame racism. iI will also show how it played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement and other important social justice movements.

These power points will show jazz in all its stages of development. We will first explore how it began during the time of slavery and that black musicians depended upon jazz and dance to hold on to their identities. The power points will also reveal how experimentation and

improvisation allowed jazz to develop in many different ways. We will then explore how whites tried to take credit for it and discredit black forms of it. The powerpoints will also illustrate how some racist whites attempted to define jazz as the music of prostitutes and lowlifes because it was originally performed in brothels and speakeasies. To lend strength to these power points, I will be including musical recordings of different jazz musicians that exemplify the styles as they emerged. This will allow the audience a chance to fully understand the music as it was being created.

I also intend on using powerpoint slides to show how jazz became a strong musical form that could not be destroyed. How it began in New Orleans and became extremely popular. It then traveled to both Chicago and New York. In each city, it gained its own flavor and style. In Chicago, during Prohibition, Jazz music was regularly played in speakeasies and made them a place where people wanted to come. In New York, it became part of the Harlem Renaissance Movement (1910-1930s) This movement featured the best black artists, writers, photographers and musicians of the time. Whites and blacks would flock to Harlem to be part of this amazing phenomenon. Jazz was performed in clubs and theaters and great jazz musicians both white and black entertained delighted audiences. By mixing my powerpoint slides with audio recordings, my audience can be taken back in history to get a full understanding of how jazz grew in leaps and bounds.

With this strength, it was here to stay. It was not just accepted by one or two groups of people but by all. Since white mainstream society embraced it, money was invested in jazz that made it well known throughout the country and the world.This notoreighty gave black musicians an opportunity to enjoy a successful life. In my powerpoints I will show how blacks who were involved in jazz were able to live a life far better than other blacks within society. A comparison of lifestyles will be included within my powerpoints.

What became key is that despite living in a time of extreme racism, black jazz musicians were able to set a strong example of success. In this way, while other parts of American culture

prevented blacks from having equal opportunities, jazz had a unique “color blindness”. People couldn’t care less whether the musician was white or black as long as the music was amazing. By including musical recordings from the 1910’s – 1930s, the audience will hear the music that gained tremendous popular appeal. They will fully understand why this music touched so many people. They will begin to comprehend how jazz music became a voice for those looking for a direction in troubling times caused by WWI and The Great Depression.

Once this voice was established, it could speak out on many things. Blacks who had experienced success wanted other blacks to feel the same satisfaction. When these musicians saw or read about injustice toward their people, they wanted to speak out and do something about it. Often they wrote songs that expressed how they were feeling about things that were happening to their people. It not only allowed them to make sense of things but it also gave them an outlet for expressing a gamut of emotions.Jazz music because of its strong universal appeal was able to speak not only to blacks but to anyone who could connect to the message being expressed. In that way, as lynchings occurred in the South and segreation destroyed people’s lives, black musicians could express the pain and suffering caused by these horrific events. Jazz not only opened people to what was wrong but it motivated them to do something about it. Included in my powerpoints will be candid pictures taken by the extremely talented photographer Gordon Parks who showed the ugly side of discrimination and segregation.

In addition to the examples of jazz music expressing social outrage, I will also include in my powerpoints interviews with jazz musicians who wanted to make a difference. They will discuss their reactions to prejudice and social injustice. They will also explain how their music can not only cry out for change but also comfort those who are suffering so greatly.

The audience that jazz and I will try to reach is one that becomes disgusted when confronted by social injustice. A fair-minded person cannot simply ignore something that is horribly wrong. This paper is not only targeting one race or ethnicity. It takes into account the fact that all successful social movements must gain the support of the majority within a society.

These power points, audio recordings, and interviews with musicians are designed to connect with people on an emotional level that forces them to do the right thing. In this way, the fight for social justice for all can continue until it is fully recognized. Jazz music can play an important part in not only connecting with people of conscience but solidifying their passion for a worthy cause. Martin Luther King Jr. alluded to such a society in his ‘I Have a Dream Speech”. .