James Brown and the Black Power Movement or Was America's Soul Brother Number One a Black Nationalist? E-Book

Paul Vierkant

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2006

Beschreibung

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, Free University of Berlin (John F. Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien), course: The Sixties and the U.S., language: English, abstract: “The Godfather of soul”, “the hardest working man in show business” or “Soul Brother Number One”, are the various different images of a persona who made a very important contribution to the Black Power Movement. James Brown reached his audience in concert halls and via radio and television. As a musician, performer, and role model, he touched the soul of nearly every black American at a time when Afro-Americans sought to re-define themselves. The time had come to create a black Aesthetic that would reshape the Western cultural sphere. Beside James Brown, Black America saw the rise of other cultural heroes like Muhammad Ali and Shaft. They all contributed in their own way to the black liberation struggle. However, the Black Power Movement did not only consist of a cultural branch but also of political and religious organizations. Figures like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King jr. were charismatic leaders whose importance can not be overstressed. Still, the basis of the Black Power Movement (hereafter BPM) was the individual, the group and the community. The black experience, together with black everyday life was the origin and source of the black struggle. Since James Brown grew up in a southern American black community and knew what this experience meant, he was able to authentically convey this on stage. Beyond his career as a musician, he was also interested in the fate of his people. He was in his own way an active political figure, using his popularity to change the social circumstances for black communities. Furthermore, Brown was one of the first black American musicians to enter the white-dominated world of economics. Although he had never been close to black nationalists, he lived – consciously or unconsciously – their visions in great part. Yet he always stressed his belief in the American Dream and patriotism. Consequently, he can be considered a symbol of black cultural Nationalism and a patriotic American at the same time. It is this dichotomy and ambiguity of James Brown that will be discussed in the following essay.

Leseprobe

Table of Content

I. Introduction

II. The Black Power Movement

1. Cultural Nationalism

2. The Black Aesthetic

3. SOUL

III. A Brief History of Black Music

IV. James Brown’s Appropriation of Black Nationalist Values in His Life and Music

1. James Brown’s Music

2. The Political Tone of James Brown’s Songs

3. Private Life and Black Power?

4. James Brown and the Black Experience

5. James Brown and His Influential Power in Music

V. James Brown’s Appropriation of Black Nationalist Values in Politics

1. James Brown as Uncle Tom

2. James Brown for Presidents

3. Riot Control

4. James Brown the Benefactor

VI. James Brown’s Appropriation of Black Nationalist Values in Economics

1. The American Dream

VII. Conclusion

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Paul Vierkant Freie Universität Berlin John F. Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien Università Degli Studi Roma Tre „The 60s and the US“ Winter Semester 2004/05

James Brown and the Black Power Movement

or

Was America’sSoul Brother Number Onea Black Nationalist?

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I. Introduction

“The Godfather of soul”, “the hardest working man in show business” or “Soul Brother Number One”, are the various different attributes attached to James Brown who made a very important contribution to the Black Power Movement. James Brown reached his audience in concert halls and via radio and television. As a musician, performer, and role model, he touched the soul of nearly every black American at a time when Afro-Americans sought to re-define themselves. The time had come to create a black aesthetic that would reshape the Western cultural sphere. Beside James Brown, Black America saw the rise of other cultural heroes like Muhammad Ali and Shaft. They all contributed in their own way to the black liberation struggle. However, the Black Power Movement did not only consist of a cultural branch but also of political and religious organizations. Figures like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King jr. were charismatic leaders whose importance can not be overemphasized.

Still, the basis of the Black Power Movement (hereafter BPM) was the individual, the group and the community. The black experience, together with black everyday life was the origin and source of the black struggle. Since James Brown grew up in a southern American black community and knew what this experience meant, he was able to authentically convey this on stage. Beyond his career as a musician, he was also interested in the fate of his people. He was in his own way an active political figure, using his popularity to change the social conditions for black communities. Furthermore, Brown was one of the first black American musicians to enter the white-dominated world of economics. Although he had never been close to black nationalists, he lived - consciously or unconsciously - their visions. Yet he always stressed his belief in the American Dream and patriotism. Consequently, he can be considered a symbol of black cultural Nationalism and a patriotic American at the same time. It is this dichotomy and ambiguity of James Brown that will be discussed in the following essay.

To understand how James Brown applied the ideas and values of black cultural Nationalism, it is necessary to know about the historical context and structure of the BPM and black Nationalism, which then leads us to the emergence and meaning of the black aesthetic and Soul. In addition to this rather theoretical approach, a brief history of black American music is crucial to understanding the

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influences on James Brown and the impact he had. Only through a solid knowledge of black Nationalism, Soul and Black Music, it is possible to demonstrate when, how, and why James Brown appropriated both black Nationalist demands and American values.

II. The Black Power Movement

Since James Brown’s life paralleled the black liberation struggle it is necessary to define the movement at a point when James Brown was not only at the top of his career, but also politically, economically, and socially involved in the Black Power Movement.

What William L. Van Deburg called the “BlackCamelot”in his book of the same title, describes “a metaphorical device meant to symbolize and illuminate the new world order sought by African-Americans of both the civil rights and the Black Power eras.”1In other words, the BPM was the Afro-American quest for socio-cultural equality. What made it exceptionally was the fact that the BPM was essentially selfdirected, radical, and sought to gain power: Black Power. However, there were different ways to gain Black Power. According to Van Deburg, one of the three main ideologies was “assimilation”. Its members sought quick integration into the mainstream. Then there were “pluralists”, who accepted the idea of the American society as a "salad bowl". By competing with other ethnic groups - economically, politically and culturally - pluralists wanted to attain Black Power. The third group was the “Nationalists”, who wanted to build up a black community, separated from other ethnic groups in most areas of life. Nationalists themselves can be subdivided in territorial Nationalists, like the Nation of Islam who wanted to create a separate, independent black state within America, or go back to Africa; revolutionary Nationalists like the Black Panthers, who sought to gain Power by destroying the system by all means; and finally, cultural Nationalists like the Organization US which claimed that black political and economic power could only emerge out of a distinctive African-American culture.2The aspect of cultural difference between African-Americans and Euro-Americans is the fundamental to cultural Nationalists.3All Nationalists promoted community work because in their opinion it was the first step towards independece an self-reliance.

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Because James Brown lived, promoted and appropriated most of cultural nationalist values and its aesthetic, it makes sense for this essay to concentrate on the cultural field of black Nationalism. Yet that does not mean that the two other branches, together with their organizations and leaders, did not contribute to the black liberation struggle.