Louis Armstrong was a famous jazz trumpeter and jazz vocalist, whose career started in the 1920’s and lasted half a century, into the 1970’s. While he was one of the most skilled and influential jazz musicians of his time, one of the main reasons that he was so popular was because of how entertaining he was to watch and to listen to. He was in a number of Hollywood films featuring some of the biggest stars of the time, and was also known for his goofy antics on the stage during his big band concerts.
Because he always seemed such a happy-go-lucky character in public, many people criticized him for his behavior. Some people saw his actions as an attempt at demeaning hisself to be an entertainer for white audiences. He endured much criticism from both white and black audiences during his career.
Another thing I want to point out is that Louis Armstrong’s career took place during a time when the country was adjusting to integrating blacks into society. Much of the nation was still segregated during his childhood and early career. As an artist, Louis Armstrong would sometimes translate his experiences into his music.
In the song “Black and Blue”, Armstrong sings about a rough, impoverished life with oppression experienced in a variety of forms. The lyrics are as follows:
Cold empty bed...springs hurt my head
Feels like ole ned...wished I was dead
What did I do...to be so black and blue
Even the mouse...ran from my house
They laugh at you...and all that you do
What did I do...to be so black and blue
Im white...inside...but, that dont help my case
Thats life...cant hide...what is in my face
How would it end...aint got a friend
My only sin...is in my skin
What did I do...to be so black and blue
How would it end...i aint got a friend
My only sin...is in my skin
What did I do...to be so black and blue
Society in the 1920’s treated blacks and whites completely different. Even a black man as well-known and well-loved as Louis Armstrong was subjected to discriminatory treatment. Black musicians had to travel in more cramped and dangerous forms of transportation, were often required by their white-owned record labels to travel strenuous tour schedules, and were not given as good of pay or accomodations as similar white musicians of the time. In the first verse, Louis Armstrong sings about the poor conditions he has had to endure. The example he uses is a ragged bed with not enough cushion to cover up the springs and set in a cold room.
A mouse, something associated with the poorest of living conditions, was not even willing to share the poor status of Louis Armstrong’s house, as he mentions in the second verse. This is reminiscent of the living situations of many black people in America during the early 1900’s. The inequality in job opportunity and wages forced many black families to live in poverty, which is definitive of Louis Armstrong’s childhood as he grew up in New Orleans, LA. He goes on to say that “All they do is laugh at you…and all that you do”. I think Louis Armstrong is talking about how, even while he was an incredibly talented musician, arguably one of the best jazz trumpeters ever, society, meaning “white/normal” society, laughed at his efforts to succeed. The record label executives knew he was the best trumpeter they had ever heard, yet they treated him much worse than other white jazz musicians.
In the third verse, he says, “I’m white…inside…but, that don’t help my case. That’s life…can’t hide…what’s in my face”. Because of how society has been set up by the white man, it has been instituted that to be white is normal. By saying that he is white, Armstrong is saying that he is, on the inside, normal and the same as every other man; that he deserves equal treatment as every other man that is white. Unfortunately, being white on the inside doesn’t “help his case”. As Iris Young says in Five Faces of Oppression, “ stereotypes confine them to a nature which is often attached in some way to their bodies, and which thus cannot easily be denied”. Armstrong’s skin color is something he cannot change, and no matter how much he changed his inner character to fit the “white norm” that society had set, he was still viewed as black and thus was subject to black stereotypes.
His final verse in this song sings “How would it end…I ain’t got a friend. My only sin…is in my skin. What did I do…to be so black and blue?”. Oppression can leave a person feeling helpless, as if they “ain’t got a friend”. White people mistreated Louis Armstrong through discriminatory practices of the time and some black people frowned on him for being an “Uncle Tom”, (because of how he portrayed himself in relation to white people during shows and concerts). Also, by saying that his sin is in his skin, he claims the blame for the problem and names it as something that he cannot change. “What did I do…to be so black and blue?”, sounds a lot like internalized racism, discussed by Gloria Yamato in Something About the Subject Makes it Hard to Name. Yamato says, “If it seems that your color is the reason, if it seems that your ethnic heritage is the cause of the woe, it’s because you’ve been deliberately beaten down by agents of a greedy system until you swallowed the garbage.” Armstrong has clearly bought into the idea that his “sin”, his skin color, is why he’s mistreated. He has black skin, he is sad from constant oppression, and it’s all his fault.
In conclusion, I wonder as to the purpose of this song. Was Armstrong simply emoting his feelings about his life and hardships? Or was this song meant to inspire more open-minded thought among both his black and his white listeners/viewers? Whatever the purpose, both of these things are accomplished. Not only do I sympathize with Armstrong’s situation, but I find myself considering the social constructs that shaped his ideas about his skin color and mistreatment.
Advertisers use sex and the objectification of women to sell their products/services.
This causes society to demean women and view them as non-individuals who are to be appreciated only for their body parts, what they will do sexually for a man, and for their undying thirst for and pursuit of this carnal, sexual relationship with a man.
I see this exemplified in commercials, expecially those aired during shows or events that draw largely male audiences. While I often don't even realize the message that I am receiving and perhaps am accepting as normal, I do feel that this portrayal of women is inaccurate, demeaning, and down-right wrong.
The heads of production companies are mostly male, and so are the directors of the commercials we see on TV today. They are in positions to shape how the public views the subjects filmed in their commercials. From this platform, they've used and abused their far-reaching position to display women in fantastical and unreal behaviors.
In order for women to gain an equal share of "We the people" in our country, we must redefine what we as a society call a "woman". Do we really seek a woman that will sexually bend over backwards at our every beck and call? Do we want a woman that satisfies our every sexual desire? Or, as is often shown in media today, multiple women for that same purpose? In our real, day-to-day lives, do we not express the longing for a deeper connection with a woman, more on a personal level than a physical level?
I hope to point out the ridiculous and unrealistic nature of commercial advertising, the ways both men and women reciprocate these sexist images, and possible changes that need to take place in order for women to be viewed as equally as men.
I want to use some of the resources found in the video,
Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video, our text, "Oppression, Privelege, & Resistance", and a few other of our readings.
I've decided to do a review of the song "Black and Blue" by Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was an African-American jazz trumpeter and vocalist who was born in New Orleans and whose career began in the 1920's. Being a black man, he encountered many difficulties in both his daily life and his career.
Through my review of the song "Black and Blue" I want to explore how social institutions helped to shape the music industry and the experiences of black musicians during the Jazz Era. By dissecting Louis Armstrong's lyrics, I think I will find reflections of social structures that enabled racial oppression. For example, a lyric from the song says "My only sin is in my skin./What did I do to be so black and blue?". This sounds like he is blaming himself for any hardships he has encountered, a form of internalized racism. Gloria Yamato said "People of color come to believe misinformation about their particular ethnic group and thus believe that their mistreatment is justified."
I also hope to explore how Armstrong's position as a famous musician in the public eye served as a platform for his acknowledgment of oppression and how he used his position in the limelight in response to oppression.
Author: Iris Young
Title of Article:
Five Faces of OppressionText Source:
Oppression, Privilege, and ResistanceYear Published: 2004
Pages: 37-63
Summary: Iris Young's article is about the systematic reproduction of structural oppression through the ways society defines groups. She argues that oppression is not always a case of one group oppressing another but has now come to include the exercise of power by society over certain groups unintentionally. She uses five categories to describe oppression on any group: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence.
Main Arguments: Young argues that, through exploitation, a society that defines everyone as formally free still maintains a hierarchical system. Devaluing one groups labor in order for another group to realize a profit on a distributed product systematically transfers power from the first group to the latter. There is also the issue of gender exploitation. The systematic transfer of power from women to men not only inhibits the ability and opportunity for women to gain power, but it also augments the possibility for more power for men.
Marginalization is a form of oppression that limits a groups possibilities and power. By expelling any group from participation in any facet of society, that group can realize severe material deprivation and other non-material effects, such as boredom or lack of self-respect.
Powerlessness delves into the differences involved with the division of labor. In creating a social division between professionals and nonprofessionals society has developed a status label that extends beyond the workplace. Powerlessness is reflected in the lack of authority, status, and sense of self that comes with being included in the professional group. Also, professionals have three aspects that separate them from nonprofessionals: experiencing progress through acquisition of a specialized knowledge and professional advancement, having some authority over other workers, and "respectability", which is to be treated with respect because of some level of authority, expertise, or influence.
The fourth category of oppression that Young describes is cultural imperialism. This is when the dominant group in society issue the experiences, values, goals, and achievements of their own group as the social norm. Any differences that some other groups may have to this norm are sometimes defined as a lack or negation, marking the second group as the Other. Being the Other, different experiences than that of the dominant group ensue, all the more enforcing their social difference.
Systematic violence is the final category that Young uses to define oppression. This is when members of a group learn to live with a fear of attack with the intention of damaging, humiliating, or destroying the person. Young argues that violence is directed at individuals simply because they are members of a group. This deprives them of freedom and dignity. Also, Young says that violence directed at a group is systemic because of the way cultural imperialism affects how groups are viewed. This results in a fear or hatred of a group which is then embodied with irrational violent acts.
She finishes her article by explaining that the five categories she developed to identify oppression are simply that; identifiers. She seeks to avoid reducing oppression to "a common essence" or that one form may be more fundamental than another.
How do you position yourself to the issues raised in the article? I recognize the effects of all five faces of oppression in society, some more so than others. Particularly, though, I was able to agree with her description of cultural imperialism. All the other categories, while still very prevalent in society, seem to be undergoing at least SOME change in order to combat oppression. Cultural imperialism, however, seems to me to be more deeply rooted and unrecognized than the others. The five faces of oppression describe how groups are treated in relation to other groups or to society, but they all stem from first defining a group. Young suggests that oppression is a condition of groups. By this, she means that defining groups labels one group as different from the other. Cultural imperialism is where these groups are defined. In order to begin quelling forms of oppression in society we must reevaluate how we define society's norm, or to stop defining a norm at all and accept the existence of ALL differences.
How do the racial, gender, class, religious, nationality, sexuality "social locations" you subscribe to 'speak' to/with/against the arguments of this author?
Within my social location of religion, specifically Christianity, I've become aware of the oppression of homosexuals through cultural imperialism. While I haven't witnessed this oppression first-hand in my own experiences with homosexuals or through my own church's treatment of homosexuals, I see that the institution of the Church has defined, through large access to media, that the social norm in this country should be heterosexuality. At the same time, we've labeled any homosexual as being immoral and, some might say, promiscuous.
I do not follow these beliefs that homosexuals are different physically or that they're immoral as a group, and I feel that I keep an open mind about anyone and their chosen way of life. But, I do recognize religion's impact on the homosexual community. The church has affected how homosexuals are treated and the opportunities or the "respectability" that is made available to them.
Had homosexuality had a larger platform earlier on in the formation of our society, then perhaps homosexuality would be considered the norm and Christianity would be considered wrong. In this case, I know I would not appreciate being called 'different' and 'weird' just because I am a Christian.
