AP® African American Studies review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/african-american-studies/units/3/3-14)
Unit 3 · Topic 3.14
3.14 Symphony in Black: Black Performance in Music, Theater, and Film
In the 1930s and 1940s, Black musicians, actors and dancers reached national audiences through records, radio, Broadway and film. Blues, gospel and jazz, all rooted in Black Southern life, became central to American culture, while all-Black films like Cabin in the Sky showcased Black talent within the limits Hollywood set.
Key terms
- blues
- jazz
- Duke Ellington
- Cabin in the Sky
- Katherine Dunham
- Ethel Waters
Music reaches the nation
The Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age opened doors for Black record labels, musicians and singers to reach wider audiences. Radio carried Black genres, including the blues, gospel and jazz, into homes across the country.
| Genre | Roots | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| Blues | Slavery-era music of the rural South | Emotional songs of despair and hope, love and loss; repetition, call and response, everyday speech; became electric as migrants moved north |
| Gospel | Black church music | Joyful, emotional religious songs that blend spirituals, hymns and blues styles |
| Jazz | New Orleans | Improvisation and swing; new styles, from big band to bebop and later free jazz, as musicians moved north and west |
The blues and jazz
The blues began as acoustic music in the American South and has roots in the music of slavery (2.9). As African Americans moved north in the Great Migration (3.16), musicians in cities like Chicago plugged in, creating an electric blues sound.
Jazz has been called the United States' most distinctive contribution to the arts. Like the blues, it began in Black Southern communities, especially New Orleans, and new styles developed as musicians moved to the North, Midwest and West. It keeps evolving today.
Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington was a composer, pianist and bandleader whose orchestra became one of the most famous in America, starting at Harlem's Cotton Club. In the mid-1930s he made the short film Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life, showing scenes of Black work, love and worship set to his music. The required source is a 1943 film performance of his band's hit 'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)'.
Broadway and Hollywood
Black performers flourished in cabarets, on Broadway and in film in the early 1900s. Cabin in the Sky opened on Broadway in 1940, starring Ethel Waters and featuring the dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham, who also studied dance traditions of the Caribbean. Hollywood made it into an all-Black musical film in 1943, starring Waters, Lena Horne and Louis Armstrong. The required sources include photos of Dunham (1940), Waters (1943) and the film's cast (1943).
Ethel Waters also became the first African American to star in her own television show, in 1939. All-Black Hollywood musicals gave talented performers rare starring roles, but critics, then and now, have pointed out that such films often relied on stereotypes and kept Black actors in segregated productions.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Linking music and migration
Explain how the Great Migration affected the development of the blues.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Describe the blues' origins: acoustic music in the rural South, rooted in slavery-era music.
- Step 2: Explain the migration: musicians moved to Northern cities like Chicago.
- Step 3: State the change: an electric blues sound developed in the cities and reached wider audiences.
Answer: Model answer: The blues began as acoustic music in the rural South. During the Great Migration, Black musicians moved to Northern cities like Chicago, where they began playing amplified electric instruments in crowded clubs. This created a new electric blues sound, and records and radio carried it to audiences across the country.
Common mistakes
- Thinking jazz or the blues began in Northern cities. Both began in the South and changed as musicians migrated.
- Treating all-Black Hollywood films as simple progress. They showcased talent but often used stereotypes.
- Mixing up genres: gospel is sacred church music; the blues is secular.
On the exam
- Film clips and photos from this era can appear as sources. Describe the performance, then explain its context.
- Link this topic back to spirituals (2.9) and forward to the evolution of Black music (4.17).
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 3.14 Symphony in Black: Black Performance in Music, Theater, and Film. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
Which development helped blues and jazz reach national audiences in the 1920s and 1930s?
Publicity photographs for the 1943 film Cabin in the Sky show its all-Black cast, including Ethel Waters, Lena Horne and Louis Armstrong. The musical had first appeared on Broadway in 1940, where the dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham performed in it with her dance company.
Description written for this practice set of publicity photographs for Cabin in the Sky (1940 stage production; 1943 film)
Productions like Cabin in the Sky best illustrate that in the 1930s and 1940s
Ethel Waters, a star of Cabin in the Sky, also made history in 1939 when she became
Jazz, which Duke Ellington helped shape, is often called the United States' most distinctive contribution to the arts. Where did jazz originate?
0 of 4 answered