In 1840, the first successive wave of acceptance of black music took over by
white performers who called themselves "nigger mistrals". They
painted their skin black as a form of costume. If blacks weren't portrayed as
laughable idiots, then they were seen as inhumane and something to fear; more
of a caricature then a human being. Giles Oakley, author of the book, The
Devil's Music: A History of the Blues, says: "The lives of all black
people in America
have been fundamentally shaped by the racial experience of slavery; the memory
of enforced servitude in the past has molded attitudes and feelings in the
present and has conditioned the black American's stance in the world. Since the
end of slavery, the black communities have been searching for their identities
in relation to white culture, in relation to themselves and in relation to
their past."
In the early 1890's, Ragtime music seemed to replace minstrels, with jazz
and blues being inspired and born around this time. Ragtime got it's name due
to the clog dancing known as "ragging", which was mostly just shuffling.
A rhythmic form of piano blues emerged from ragtime during the 1900's in New
Orleans and it became known as "boogie
woogie". A man by the name of Jelly Roll Morton became one of the first
ragtime and jazz composers and pianists, but says he never forgot his early
grounding in the blues in New Orleans.
Around the turn of the century, medicine shows became increasingly popular.
These were shows put on by black blues musicians (and sometimes white country
blues musicians with black singers) who traveled with traveling salesman who
were promoting some new cure-all elixir in small towns outside of major city
limits. White and black audiences alike would come out for the entertainment,
seemingly leaving the Jim Crow laws at the door. William Ivey of the Country
Music Foundation confirms that the existence of a common repertoire between the
early country musicians and the early blues musicians forced a type of business
relationship, even at the peak of segregation.