Conclusion

 

As a result of a historical decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1954 known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the doctrine of “separate but equal” going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 was overturned.

The Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

On December 1 of the following year, an African-American woman refused to give up her seat to make room for a white man and move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Soon the act sparked the successful year-long Montgomery bus boycott by African-Americans led by an African-American Christian minister Martin Luther King Junior, and on June 4 1954, the federal district court ruled that Alabama’s racial segregation laws for public buses are unconstitutional. 

The Victory helped set off the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950’s to the 1960’s.

Since the period of the Civil Rights Movement, young African-Americans abandoned the blues, because the music reminded them of trials and tribulations of slavery and Jim Crow laws.

In addition, there were little blues songs which protested against the racial segregation system.

 

That is probably because the blues was developed out of the work song and, as stated previously, the singer of work song accepted the very color prejudice.

 

For young black people, the blues always sounded depressing and out of date.

 

Thus, the blues created by African-Americans in the South were “recycled” by white people.

 

As this column has already claimed, not all the blues was sung to comfort troubled black men and women.

 

In fact, entertainment is one of the most important components of the blues because it led to the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.

 

When Muddy Waters and other real blues musicians played the blues in many places including Chicago and Europe, young whites were inspired and started singing the blues themselves.

 

While British rock bands such as The Animals, The Yardbirds, Cream, and The Rolling Stones performed the Delta blues songs in the 1960’s, blues rock performers in the United States such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Santana influenced the development of rock music.

 

After the 1970’s, blues-oriented rock singers and bands such as Johnny Winter, John Mayer, Anthony Gomes, and more recently Lenny Kravitz and The White Stripes appeared and achieved international success. 

There is still an income gap between whites and blacks, but the situation of African-Americans is no longer as harsh as the society of slavery and Jim Crow. 

An example of how circumstances improved appeared in the 2008 general election of the United States.

In the election, the United States Senator from Illinois Barack Obama won the presidency and became the first African-American to be elected president.

Thus, in the modern world, there are fewer situations that give people “the blues”.

In other words, there may be no one appears who is able to express their feelings like work song and country blues singers sang their harsh conditions under the Southern slavery and racial segregation systems.

That is why many historians and musicians still believe that the blues in the South is the greatest African-American cultural legacy. 

Notes

Shinya Yamada, Amerika Nanbu no Bungaku to Eiga: Sono “Basho” Hyougen Kara, [Literature and Movie of the American South: From the “Place” Expressions] (Tokyo: Kindai Bungei Sha, 1994) 2.

 

For the discussion of Chapter Ⅰ, I am greatly indebted to Nomura.

 

James M. Vardaman, Futatsu no Amerika Shi: Nanbujin Kara Mita Shinjitsu no Amerika, [The Two American Histories: The True America from Southerner’s Point of View] (Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki, 2003) 19.

For the discussion of this Chapter, I am greatly indebted to Oliver.

 

B.B. and Six Others, “Black Woman,” Prison Songs: Historical Recordings from Parchman Farm 1947-1948, Volume One: Murderous Home, Rounder, 1997.

 

Alan Lomaxe’s quote can be seen in the leaflet of the CD: Prison Songs: Historical Recordings from Parchman Farm 1947-1948, Volume One: Murderous Home (Rounder, 1997) 16.

 

Blind Lemon Jefferson, “That Black Snake Moan,” Rec. Nov. 1926, The Very Best of Blind Lemon Jefferson: Match Box Blues, Blues Interactions, 2004.

 

Down Town Memphis Tennessee Hotel History: The Peabody Memphis, The Peabody Hotel Group, 15 Jan.  2010<http://www.peabodymemphis.com/about_us/history.cfm>

 

Charlie Patton, “Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues,” The Very Best of Charlie Patton: Classic Recordings from the 1920’s and 30’s, Yazoo, 2003.

Booker T. Washington ‘Bukka’ White, “Parchman Farm Blues,” Brown Robert,  Rec. 3 March 1940, The Story of the Blues. Sony Music Entertainment, 2003.

 

Oliver 290-291

Oliver 194-198

 

 Robert Johnson, “Sweet Home Chicago,” Rec. 23 Nov. 1936, Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings,  Sony Music Entertainment,1990.

 

McKinley Morganfield ‘Muddy Waters,’ “I Just Want to Make Love to You,”The Best of Muddy Waters, Mca, 1990.

 

Vardaman 30-31

 

Elvis Presley, “That’s All Right,” Rec. July 1954, Mega Elvis: Essential Collection,  Bmg, 1995.

Patricia Romanowski, and Holly George Warren, eds. The Rolling Stone: Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. 3rd ed. (New York: Rolling Stone Press, 2005) 774-778.

 

For the discussion of his biography, I mainly referred to the leaflet of the CD: Robert Johnson, Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings, (Sony Music Entertainment, 1990)1-20.

 

Robert Johnson, “Me and the Devil Blues: Take 1,” Rec. 20 June 1937, Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings, Sony Music Entertainment, 1990.

 

Keiko Wells, Kokujin Reika ha Ikiteiru: Kashi de Yomu Amerika, [Black Spiritual, Past and Present: Reading America in Song Lyrics](Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2008) 186.

 

Robert Johnson, “Hell Hound on My Trail,” Rec.20 June 1937, Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings, Sony Music Entertainment, 1990.

“Papa Legba,” MCMXCV: MMVI Encyclopedia Mythica, ed. Joshua Ellis, 15 Jan. 2010<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/papa_legba,html>

 

Robert Johnson, “Cross Road Blues: Take 1,” Rec. 23 Nov. 1936, Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings.,Sony Music Entertainment, 1990.

 

Cub Koda, “Robert Johnson Biography,” Allmusic, 4 Jan. 2010<http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&spl=11:ajfuxql5ldhe-T1.>

 

Clapton’s liner notes can be seen on the leaflet of the CD: Robert Johnson, Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings , (Sony Music Entertainment, 1990) 24.

 

For his biography, I mainly referred the leaflet of his CD:, ‘Huddie Leadbetter’ ‘Leadbelly,’ Lead Belly: Where Did You Sleep last Night?, Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings, 1996.

 

Oliver 40

 

‘Huddie Leadbetter’ ‘Leadbelly,’ “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” Rec. 1941, Lead Belly: Where Did You Sleep last Night?,  Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings, 1996.

 

The interview can be seen in the leaflet of his CD: ‘Huddie Leadbetter’ ‘Leadbelly,’Lead Belly: Where Did You Sleep last Night?, Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings, 1996.

 

Oliver 194.

 

‘Huddie Leadbetter’ ‘’Leadbelly,’ “Good Morning Blues,” Rec. Aug. 1943, Lead Belly: Where Did You Sleep last Night?, Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings, 1996.

 

Oliver 194

‘Huddie Leadbetter’ ‘Leadbelly,’ “In the Pines,” Lead Belly: Midnight Special: Library of Congress Recordings, vol.1., Rounder Records, 1991.

 

‘Huddie Leadbetter’ Leadbelly, “Irene,” Rec. By Alan Lomax. Lead Belly: Midnight Special: Library of Congress Recordings, vol.1. Rounder Records, 1991.

 

For the discussion of the Civil Rights Movement, I am greatly indebted to Wilkinson.

 

Oliver 195