Gospel Music

By Meaghan Dorsey

One major outcome of The Great Migration was the Harlem Renaissance, which started a movement of new African American accomplishments in art, literature, and music. This era presented an idea of the "New Negro," a thought that a person could overcome racism and oppression through intellect and production of the arts, according to blogs.longwood. edu. This idea inspired the race and led to musical advancements, including a development in jazz music. The Civil Rights Movement was one of the many things influenced and impacted by music, according to the Longwood blogs.

African Americans began writing and playing "freedom songs," which inspired people to fight for their rights, according to earlygospel.com. Jazz, gospel, and soul music thrived during the Civil Rights Movement. The era of the blues was reated after gospel music and other styles of worship. Gospel music impacted the North so much that the era of the blue was created from it. Unlike gospel music, the blues focused on everyday life situations. The blues didn't inspire hope as gospel did, and thus popularity went down, but it did not go away.

Rozita Waltower, 68, considers music to be an important factor in her life. Shew grew up listening to gospel music, kept it with her throughout her life, and still listens to and sings it today. Waltower came up to Boston from North Carolina in 1972. She left home with her two older brothers and older sister to find better living and more job opportunities. "I was raised in a Baptist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and did a lot of hymn singing," Waltower recalled. "I learned a lot about gospel music after leaving home. I did a little bit in college, and I am in the church choir here at the Messiah Baptist Church. I also sing a little gospel at the Pops." Waltower says she continues to learn more about Gospel music every day.