African Americans have made great strides in many different areas of American life and culture. In the entertainment industry they have gone where some thought they never would.
One of the large aspects of entertainment that African Americans have excelled and played a huge role in is the music industry.
The most popular music heard on the radio today contains many different elements of African American rhythms and culture.
When native African people first came over to the United States, religious and spiritual hymns were sung which account for some of the earliest known forms of American music.
These songs eventually transformed into the blues, which took over the United States and most notably the south during its beginning. Jazz which first surfaced in the late 1800’s was born out of black folk, blues and ballads.
Many musicians in the mid-1900’s combined spirituals, blues and jazz styles to develop what we know as rock and roll today.
In the late 1900’s the newest of American music came onto the scene, hip-hop and rap.
These two categories of music are some of the most popular in the United States. Today rap and hip-hop have taken over the radio and have influenced the American culture of our time.
The impact of African Americans through music and entertainment is seen greatly at the annual Grammy awards, where the best of the best in all areas of music are recognized for that year.
On May 4, 1959, the first Grammy Awards were held honoring the recordings of 1958. That year, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie were the first African Americans to win awards at the event. Fitzgerald won best Individual Jazz Performance for singing the Duke Ellington Song Book and Best Female Vocal Performance for the Irving Berlin Song Book. Count Basie won Best Group Jazz Performance for Basie and Best performance by a dance band also for Basie.
These awards were not only huge steps for African Americans in the music industry, but huge leaps for the African American community as a whole in the United States. In 1959, there were only two blacks to be recognized at the Grammys. At the 2009 Grammy presentations, 33 African Americans were presented with Grammys in almost all areas of music.
