Louis Armstrong & the Harlem Renaissance

Your group's task is to analyze a

Collection of five songs by Louis Armstrong. Before you began your analysis, you need a bit

of background information about Mr. Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong was born in 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana and died at the age of 69 in New York. He came to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player and was a foundational influence in jazz.

Armstrong had what many, today, would refer to as a traumatic or dysfunctional childhood. Out of this environment was born a desire to succeed, be admired, and make people happy. Louis learned at an early age that music could lead to fame and money. He and his friends would sing for nickels and pennies on the streets of his native New Orleans and he saw how popular the musicians who played the funeral and celebratory parades were with the public. On New Year’s Eve in 1913, when he was only 12 years old, Armstrong was caught firing a gun into the air and sentenced to a boys home for orphans. It was here under the guidance of Peter Davis, who ran the home, that Armstrong learned how to play the cornet and he was soon playing picnics and parades. Later in life Louis returned year after year to the same orphanage to spread his joy to whoever was staying there at that time. He never forgot Peter Davis.

With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.

Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin color was secondary to his amazing talent in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a person of color. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a huge supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

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Your Group's Task: Step 1-Listen to each song, while at the same time reading the lyrics. Step 2- Come to a consensus as a group about what each song means (according to the lyrics, the tone, the rhythm, etc). Step 3-Discuss the 5 songs as a "collection" from the era of the Harlem Renaissance. Knowing what you know about the Harlem Renaissance, do you feel that this collection reflects the era of the H.R. or is it something different? Step 4- Compare this collection from Louis Armstrong to the collection of poems from Langston Hughes. What similarities can you find? What differences? _____________________________________________________

1. Mack the Knife

Oh, the shark, has, pretty teeth, dear....and he shows them, pearly white Just a jackknife, has macheath, yeah.....and he keeps it, out of sight When the shark bites, with his teeth, dear....scarlet billows start to spread Fancy gloves, though, wears macheath, yeah..so there’s not a trace, hmmmm of red On the sidewalk...sunday morning, ...lies a body oozin’ life Someone’s sneakin’ ’round the corner...is the someone, mack the knife? From a tugboat.... by the river..... a cement bag’s, droopin’ down Yeah, the cement’s just for the weight, dear...bet you mack, he’s back in town Looky here louie miller, disappeared dear...after drawing, out his cash And macheath spends, like a sailor...did our boy do, somethin’ rash? Sukey tawdry, jenny diver..lotte lenya, sweet lucy brown Oh, the line forms on the right, dears.....now that macky’s back in town

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2. When the Saints Go Marching In

We are traveling in the footsteps Of those who’ve gone before But we’ll all be reunited (but if we stand reunited) On a new and sunlit shore (then a new world is in store) Oh when the saints go marching in When the saints go marching in Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in And when the sun refuse (begins) to shine And when the sun refuse (begins) to shine Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in When the moon turns red with blood When the moon turns red with blood Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in On that hallelujah day On that hallelujah day Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in Oh when the trumpet sounds the call Oh when the trumpet sounds the call Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in Some say this world of trouble Is the only one we need But I’m waiting for that morning When the new world is revealed When the revelation (revolution) comes When the revelation (revolution) comes Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in When the rich go out and work When the rich go out and work Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in When the air is pure and clean When the air is pure and clean Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in When we all have food to eat When we all have food to eat Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in When our leaders learn to cry When our leaders learn to cry Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

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3. Nobody Knows

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen Nobody knows but Jesus Nobody knows the trouble I've seen Glory, Hallelujah Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down, ohh, yes Lord Sometimes I'm almost To the ground, oh yes, Lord Nobody knows the trouble I've seen Nobody knows but Jesus Anybody knows the trouble I've seen Glory, Hallelujah If you got there before I do, oh yes Lord Tell all my friends, I'm Coming too, oh yes Lord Nobody knows the trouble I've seen Nobody knows but Jesus Nobody knows the trouble I've seen Glory, Hallelujah Although you see me Goin' on so, oh yes I have my trials, here below Ohh yes, Lord Oh, nobody knows the trouble I've seen Nobody knows but Jesus Nobody knows the trouble I've seen Glory, Hallelujah Ohh, glory, Hallelujah

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4. When You're Smiling

When you're smilin'....keep on smilin' The whole world smiles with you And when you're laughin'....keep on laughin' The sun comes shinin' through But when you're cryin'.... you bring on the rain So stop your frownin'....be happy again Cause when you're smilin'....keep on smilin' The whole world smiles with you (instrumental break) Oh when you're smilin'....keep on smilin' The whole world smiles with you Ah when you're laughin'....keep on laughin' The sun comes shinin' through Now when you're cryin'.... you bring on the rain So stop that sighin'....be happy again Cause when you're smilin'....just keep on smilin' And the whole world gonna smile with The great big world will smile with The whole wide world will smile with you

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5. What a Wonderful World

I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself what a wonderful world. The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do They're really saying I love you. I hear babies cry, I watch them grow They'll learn much more than I'll never know And I think to myself what a wonderful world Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Raisin in the Sun & the "Jim Crow" South

It is important to understand what was happening in the US at the time that A Raisin in the Sun is set and the place to start the understanding is by finding out... WHO WAS JIM CROW?

Describe this picture of "Jim Crow" and discuss in your group how you feel when you look at it. Are the feelings positive, negative, happy, entertaining, degrading, or something else? Why?

If you were to learn that this image represents a white man dressed up with black paint on his face, meant to mimic the black man, does that change your thoughts about the image at all?

A little background information:
The minstrel show was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface. Minstrel shows lampooned black people in mostly disparaging ways: as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, and musical. The minstrel show began with brief burlesques and comic acts in the early 1830s and emerged as a full-fledged form in the next decade.


Watch 2 examples of an old Minstrel skit.
As you watch it, think about the following items:
1. Is this type of entertainment appropriate or not?
2. What is the message behind this type of entertainment?
3. Should it have been allowed?
4. What was its purpose?
5. How did it make you feel as you watched it?
6. And finally..... would you have felt differently if you were an African American watching this?







Now look at the following images associated with "Minstrel entertainment".

Are these images examples of FREEDOM OF SPEECH or are they examples of BIGOTRY?





How far does FREE SPEECH "cover" you?

Or are there consequences of our exercising our Freedom of Speech? What are the consequences of things like the MINSTREL SHOWS and these ads?

Should there be a "limit" to our freedom of speech?

A Raisin in the Sun

The Civil War in the United States was fought from 1861-1865.
In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the

which formally abolished slavery in the United States and declared all men free when it said:

"That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free...."

So how is it possible that ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, the Jim Crow Laws could still be in effect?

Your group's task:

Look at each of the following pictures which are examples of Jim Crow Laws throughout the southern United States in the 20th century.

How do they make you feel?

What do they make you want to do/say when you see them?

What about statements such as these about Jim Crow Laws:

1. One rationale for the systematic exclusion of Black Americans from southern public society was that it was for their own protection.....

2. Allowing Blacks in White schools would mean constantly subjecting them to adverse feelings and opinions which would not be fair for them to experience....

How do these make you feel when you hear them? What could members of society do to actually change these opinions, these laws, and these ways of thinking?!!? Could they do anything?

Sure....they could move NORTH because things must be better there, right?!