Introduction

It is no exaggeration to say that the blues is the roots of all popular music after the 20th century.

Developed out of the “Work Song” under Southern slavery which black American slaves sang on the vast plantations of white owners while they were doing hard labor, the blues must have been the most effective way to express their sorrows against discrimination.

Additionally, many other matters such as love, jokes, religious faith, sex, and solidarity of black communities were sung in the music.

This column will report the history of the South and the southern blues. 

Through the interpretation of lyrics, the purpose of this column is to investigate the life of African-American in the South.

In this column, I also would like to consider other genres of Afro-American music such as jazz, swing, and rhythm and blues.

 

Usually, the American South means the following 11 states which had belonged to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia.

In addition to these states, this column will address Kentucky which has Southern features even though it was a member of the Union (the North), and the city of Chicago, Illinois, where millions of blacks migrated from the South during the 20th century.

The following chapter will review the history of the South from the discovery of America by Columbus to the end of the 19th century.