When I think of the music sang and invented out of necessity from African-Americans I think of the poem by Maya Angelou, “I know why a caged bird sings.” The poem reads:

A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

In ancient Africa, especially the west coast of Africa, it has been noted that Africans did not write down their history but had a culture of handing down their history through stories -- by word of mouth -- much like the Aborigines of Australia, and the Polynesians of Hawaii. Grandparents would tell the parents their history, and parents would retell the history to their children, and so on and so forth. Once Africans arrived in the Americas they were forced to lose their African identity, history, beliefs, and further adding to the problem children were taken from their parents at a young age, and sold.  This caused them to never know their history throught word of mouth -- the chain was broken.  The Africans not having a history to guide them compensated through faith based music and sorrowful songs that depicted the Africans plight.  The Africans created a new story uniquely African-American and the African slaves handed down their plight and African-American history through song: Old Negro Spirituals, Gospel music,(Holler and Call song which later became  Blues), Jazz, Bee-Bop, and Hip-Hop.

Some of the first songs sung by African-Americans’ ancestors were the Old Negro Spirituals and Holler and call as sang by plantation workers and prison chain gang slaves. The songs were so full of soul and although sorrowful and blue, beautiful still. You could not only hear their sorrowful plight, but the songs were sang with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still. The songs sang of the Africans’ plight and although they were caged and their communication stifled, they sang of freedom.

It was appropriate for the Africans to sing songs of their plight and of better days to come. Africans come from a culture of handing down their history, much like the Hawaiians, through song, dance, and stories told by word of mouth. How appropriate it was that the Africans in America managed to keep this one part of their culture and hand down their history through song. Each stage of African history in America can be traced through a time-line of their musical roots. From the Old Negro Spirituals  and Holler and call songs sang by slaves chained and unfree, to the gospel music they sang when they were finally imnacipated. Their voices sang loud, proud and free thanking God for letting them free.

From Holler and call music, and Gospel music sprang forth several different genres of music. Jazz came from Blues (and Holler and Call songs) and you can almost still here that Old Negro Spiritual undertone in the music with songs like Billy Holiday’s, “Strange Fruit” a song sang about the plight of African Americans still. With their voices stifled through American Apartheid, no liberty, and unfair treatment.  What was this strange fruit that hanged from the trees; it was the African-American ripe from death, hung from the tree, the African-American still suffering still from their plight of slavery.

You can say that Old Negro Spiritual, Gospel, and especially Blues music is the historical heart of African-Americans creative soul -- their heritage -- and it sprang fourth Jazz, Soul music as sang by Aretha Franklin and Al Green, and Bee-Bop as sang by Dizzy Gillespie, and Felonius Monk.

 Blues music sang about the African-Americans plight and it too like the Old Negro Spiritual was sorrowful as if a cry out for liberty, for true freedom, longed for still.  It wasn’t until Blues moved out of the South, from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Once the music moved North to places like Chicago and New York the music changed from the sorrowful tales of a life of lingering slavery. The music turned to songs of the African-Americans plight in the urban city.  While in Chicago Blues was King, in New Your Jazz and Bee Bop Ruled the charts before that Jazz and Blues were intertwined as could be heard in the Bluesy / Jazzy songs of Billy Holiday.

As the old saying goes, “Blues had a baby and named it Rock ‘n Roll.” Rock music came to dominate the American culture. The music was simply Blues music sang by Anglo Americans. But the music had to be differentiated from black music and white music. With this change in perfomers the songs changed from sorrowful imagery to songs of love, casual sex, and drugs. The music started by African-Americans was sadly tainted and misconstrued as “Devil” music. If only they really knew the history. The history of Spirituals and Gospel music of faith and a concerted drive to better a nations and a people.

Although the songs of African-Americans began to change, it still stayed connected with African-Americans plight in North America. From rock ’n roll came pop music as sang by Michel Jackson, and his sister Janet . It’s sad still because American humanities teachers don’t even recognize the musical contributions of African-Americans’ history -- their heritage. I have personally heard humanities teachers say that African-Americans don’t have a historical lineage of music as an artistic work, but that they only sing the music that is popular at the time. Sadly, this ignorance does not take into account that African-American music is the popular music. It’s not that African-Americans only sing the popular songs of the time, but in fact they are the innovators of the popular music of the time. If only they knew the true history: African-Americans voice has been popular since slavery.

From Popular music came forth a new genre -- just as powerful as the rock in roll that preceded it and just like Bee-Bop, it hearaled from New York -- called Hip-Hop -- concidered to be the  rebirth of Bee-Bop music. Hip-Hop continues to sing of the plight of  African-Americans. The music was performed and eloquently expressed by Rappers such as Tupac Shakur, and Christopher Wallace, The Notorious B.I.G.. It’s as if African-Americans’ Hip-Hop music came full circle. Although the music is meant to uplift the listener and make them feel better about their condition, historically African-Americans’ music, as a whole, has never had a happy message from the sorrowful and hopeful Old Negro Spirituals to the sorrowful plight sang in Blues music. Although I choose not to listen to Hip-Hop music because it sounds of angry kids taking out their anger on society -- the music is sort of a last ditch effort on African-Americans plight -- Although sang loud and angrily, it is like the quiet riot of African-American music.

But, what I find trully fascinating about Hip-Hop music is that it has come full-circle. Africans, historically did not write down their history like the Europeans did, but rather had a heritage of handing down their history in story telling. Hip-Hop, Americas’ most popular music as of today is a continuation of that, and in fact you can still faintly hear that Old Negro Spiritual, and Holler and call of the Blues in the background of the music, of crying out for freedom from their condition in America.

I know too why the caged bird sings. African-Americans were so stifled from expressing themselves, that when they finally were allowed to express themselves, they sang out their plight in an over abundance, a cornucopia of talented singers and MCs that molded Americas popular culture. I know why the caged bird sings “…..with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom…. But [we can not forget] a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.”