African Americans have significantly contributed to the development of music genres like blues, gospel, and rock and roll. However, they have long faced under representation and disempowerment in the music industry. Their musical styles and songs were often stolen or copied by white artists and record labels. This led to African American artists receiving little credit or profit despite originating popular musical trends. Motown Records helped increase representation of African American artists but widespread copying and covering of their songs remained an issue impacting careers and recognition.

1. The Under
Representation and
Disempowerment of
African Americans in
Music
By Cynthia Jackson
Diversity in Music
College of the Siskiyous

2. African American people
have brought interesting
variations and different
instruments used for music
since their origination in the
many countries and
subcultures of Africa.
Instruments such as the
and have introduced a new
and distinct sound in music
that has inspired many
generations of culture and
musical talent. Of the more
well known era of the 1920's
to present under
representation and
disempowerment has been a
trend in this demographic.
Pictured is an integrated groups of both African Americans
and Caucasians to increase marketability and audience
awareness.

3. Many African Americans in the
music industry have fallen prey to
having their musical creativity
exploited and stolen. Many musical
groups were plagued with duplicate
music groups and music that had
been copied even though rights to
music were clearly defined. This left
African Americans to be under
represented for their creativity and
efforts in the music industry. Under
representation led to lower pay and a
decreased fan base.

4. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
As new sounds were inrtoduced, new
faces came into view. Sister Rosetta
Tharpe would come to be an example
of disempowerment through her
musical pursuits. Rosetta Tharpe
integrated her original roots of gospel
with the new sound of guitar and
influenced many groups in America as
well as Europe. In this photo Sister
Rosetta Tharpe is performing her well
known songs at a train staion; her
audience is primarily Europeans.
Rosetta Tharpe dazzled her audience
with her new approach to rock and roll
and her integration of blues and gospel.

5. Setting a Trend
Many artists followed in the footsteps of Sister
Rosetta Tharpe. She managed to integrate a
sound and technique that was at the time
unfounded. Thoughtful experimentation and
careful development in style led other artists to
adopt the same characteristics and become
some of the well known influences of their
time. As rock and roll and blues grew and
gained popularity, many groups deformed and
sampled from each others style and techniques.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe's blues and gospel
collaboration gave many artists a platform to
build their talent.

6. During the highlights of her career
she became one of the highest paid
entertainers and was said to have
influenced Elvis Presley with her
sound on the guitar and her
choreography. Though her influence
was immeasurable to her success.
Musical groups of Europe and later
African American musicians took the
spotlight and techniques of Rosetta
Tharpe. Soon every group was
playing guitar and had a signature
move and style. The power of Rosetta
Tharpe has been disambiguated from
her, leaving her less successful and
hardly remembered.

7. Chuck Berry Madness
Chuck Berry was
disenfranchised and turned
groups like the Beach Boys into
superstars. Chucky Berry's
catchy lyrics and integrated fan
base created an opportunity for
other bands of a different
demographic to cash out on his
originality. Songs such as "My
Sweet Little Sixteen" and
"Maybelene" were recorded
with similar rhythm, pitch, and
tone. All notoriety and profit
from the songs were given to
the imposters. This act of
disenfranchising destroyed the
musical careers of many artists
including Chuck Berry whom
could've been of greater success
hadn't he been copied .

8. Chuck Berry Madness
"Surfin USA"
Beach Boys - Surfin Usa
(Live, 14 March 1964):
http://youtu.be/sNypbmP
PDco
"My sweet little
sixteen"Chuck Berry
"Sweet Little Sixteen":
http://youtu.be/ZLV4NG
poy_E

9. As with many African American people
during the early 1900's, the issue of racial
segregation was an underlying factor; this
was also very apparent in the music industry.
The reluctance of white-owned
establishments to host black venues created
further under-representation. African
American bands were not given the
opportunity to promote their music and thus
did not generate a large fan base in
comparison to other demographics.

10. The groups whom copied the
original artists, such was the case of
The Beach Boys and Chuck Berry,
were given the spotlight. All the
while the original artists suffered
from decreased record sales and
lowered popularity. For a while
African American music was being
used as a template for European
artists.

11. Motown is Born
Berry Gordy founded a record company that showcased
primarily African American artist in all genres of the culture.
There were artists such as Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Aretha
Franklin. As well as groups like The Miracles, The Supremes,
and The Temptations. The record label was called Motown
Records. Michael Jackson was also represented under the label.
Berry Gordy was determined to provide adequate representation
for the may under represented and disenfranchised African
American musicians. Though the record label had success with
introducing some of the most we'll known and respected musical
artists of all tine, the record label still struggled to maintain and
enforce copyright infringement. Everything from the style of
dress, to the riff of musical tunes, and choreography was being
sampled or "covered" by European and international artists.

12. Breaking Free
While racism played a part, the
fact was the white artists songs
were more popular, and usually
overshadowed the original (the
same thing happened with "Blue
Suede Shoes" -- it was associated
with Elvis and you rarely saw
Carl Perkins performing it,
either). People in the 50s were
willing to accept Blacks in the
role of entertainers, as long as
they didn't ask for equality.

13. Stars Are Made
Motown continued to
grow with the amount of
talent it sponsored. Artist
such as The Supremes,
Stevie Wonder, Michael
Jackson, The Temptations,
and many others gained
notoriety amongst their
fans and became
superstars despite the
demographic.

14. Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman became
very famous with his different style
and flamboyant attitude. Through
many struggles both racial and
personal Richard often felt
disempowered by his role as
opposed to others. Richard finally
got a chance to showcase his talent
as an opening act for Sister Rosetta
Tharpe. Rosetta Tharpe heard
Richard singing some of her own
music and knew that he had a great
talent. His greatest musical
contributions include songs such as
"Tutti Frutti","Ready
Teddy","Lucille", "Slip in and
slidin", and many more some of
which were recorded in Great
Britain.

15. Integrated Rock and Roll
Little Richard was also a victim of being
disinfranchised. People like Pat Boone
covered "Tutti Frutti" and gained more
popularity amongst fans for his version of
Little Richard's well known song. Elvis
Presley and Bill Haley also followed this
trend and disinfranchised Little Richard by
copying the melody and lyrics of his music
to generate more popularity for themselves.
Amongst the hit recordings was the song
"Good Gollly Miss Molly". This song has
been sampled and covered by many artists.

16. More Covers
People such as Elvis Presley, Bill
Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene
Vincent ,and The Everly Brothers
covered many of Little Richards
songs to catapult their career.
Disempowermnent followed
when segregated fans choice
their own demographic version
instead of the original song
writer's. Gene Vincent sampled
and copied music from Little
Richard.

17. • Black Americans were often seen as the
originators of rock and roll as a genre of
music, but often discredited for their
efforts. Some African Americans were not
even allowed to record their musical
pursuits do to color barrier. At any given
concert there would a separation
amongst the crowd. The separation was
literal with ropes or police barricades.

18. The Allen Brothers
Country musicians were also covering
African-American songs. The Allen
Brothers recorded this version of blues
performer Papa Charlie Jackson’s
”Salty Dog Blues” in 1926. Some Allen
Brothers recordings were created by
their record company in its race series
instead of its hillbilly series. The
performers wanted to keep their
marketing segregated out of racism, but
as far as musical style went, there
simply wasn’t that much difference
between black and white music when it
came to sound and structure. the Allen
Brothers took on many other covers and
disinfranchised many African Americans
in the process.

19. The Fontane Sisters
The Fontane Sisters were a trio from
Millford, New Jersey, who signed to
Dot Records and hit the top of the
pop charts with a song called
“Hearts Made of Stone.” This song
was already on the rhythm and blues
top music list originally sang by Otis
Williams and the Charmers. Covers
and subsequently disinfranchised
African Americans became a trend
and many albums were composed
primarily of "covers" of original
songsongs.

20. Powerless to the Music
Disinfranchisement and
Disempowermnent of African Americans
through music has been a long standing
issue and has led to many copyright
issues. Artist receive royalties for right to
the music they have created. This has
lead to many artist starving for work and
unable to get the initial reaction of their fan
base due to numerous versions of the
previously popular music. The power of
their original efforts seemed to be
unrecoverable and many groups and
bands fell apart due to lack of work.

21. Copyright Infringement
Chuck Berry was one of the first
artists to legally demand credit for
his contributions. In a civil suit
between Berrry and The Beach
Boys group over the similarities in
his song "My Sweet Little Sixteen"
and The Beach Boy's "surfing
USA". Chuck Berry had to prove in
court that he created the song
before The Beach Boys and that
the songs had the same melody.

22. Chuck Berry eventually won his
suit against the opposing record
label whom produced the cover
version of his song My Sweet
Little Sixteen. To counteract the
stealing of music, many other
artist enlisted attorneys to provide
signed documents to direct
royalties and contract which
prohibited the use of another
artists music without consent and
compensation. This made it a little
harder to copy music by
demanding originality and
confront music piracy.

23. Most of Elvis Presley's early hits
were covers of black rhythm and
blues or blues songs, like "That's All
Right", "Baby Let's Play House",
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Hound
Dog". His popularity overshadowed
any original artist he copied and left
the original artists under
represented. Under representation
played a big part in unsuccessful
careers of many artists. Not being
able to promote their career, many
African American artist we left to
play for local juke joints and night
clubs.

24. Barry Gordy also
offered a sense of
belonging and an
oppurtunity for African
Americans to be a part
of the music industry.
Witnessing constant
under represented
African American
musicians inspired
Barry Gordy to create a
record label and
produce famous acts.

25. Though today many of the
originators of popular music are
retired, notoriety is still given to
groups whom disinfranchised
African Americans. Groups such
as The Supremes, The
Temptations, and The Miracles
are still being under represented
in music and discredited for all
their musical contributions. Every
aspect of their music and
personal style has been modified
and revamped to suit modern
society, yet they are not seen as
contributors.

26. Under representation
and disinfranchisement
have been along
standing issue amongst
African Americans and
will more like continue
as new artists appear.
Most music today has
disinfranchised the
original owner and left
the original artist
unknown.

27. Bibliography
 Jazz in Black and White: Race, Culture, and Identity in
the Jazz Community,CharleyGerard Praeger, 1998
• The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from
Africa to the United Sta1996, Samuel A. Floyd
Jr.,Oxford University
• It Didn't Jes Grew: The Social and Aesthetic
Significance of African AmeRican Music, Salaam,
Kalamu ya.,African American Review, Vol. 29, No. 2,
Summer 1995
• An Introduction to America’s Music (Book and
C.D.).,Richard Crawford, 2001, W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc