Process Paper
An unknown author once said “Music is what feelings sound like.” Elisha Findley came to me, Emma McElligott, after watching a VH1 “Behind the Music” episode that featured the music artist “Nelly.” She explained that Nelly experienced a problematic past before reaching stardom. Recognizing that it was time for us to choose an NHD topic, we noticed a link between Nelly and the slaves both expressing their feelings of hardship through music, which is what inspired us to choose our NHD topic. “A Reaction to Slave Music.”
We wanted to uncover the feelings of the slaves, and decode the lyrics in their songs. The music they created documented their sufferings, so we began our research by Google searching “slave songs.” This search prompted links to many sites dealing with our topic, including information that we used for our subtopics, such as famous slave songs, types of songs and instruments, and its significance to today. At first, we were both very concerned about being unable to find primary sources, considering it was very unlikely that the slaves wrote their lyrics on paper. However, then we discovered the website Library of Congress, and we were able to cite many primary source slave pictures. A variety of these sources presented slaves working on a plantation field or in a recreational moment. This demonstrates a time when slaves may have sang different types of songs to get them through their day.
Next, we discussed how we would present our topic. We narrowed our ideas down to an exhibit, documentary, or website because we felt that those would present our topic well. Interestingly enough, we chose the presentation category that we felt would be the most challenging, knowing that neither of us have experience in making websites. The route we chose was to create a website using the program known as Weebly, because we felt that it would be the easiest way to organize and present our information and that it would be the most interactive for our viewers.
The way slaves reacted to their music helped them to cope with their daily distress and inspired them to reach freedom. Their music helped to reform America. Their stories were told through their lyrics, which have been documented for all to come. Their music also affected many genres of music that remain popular today. Many concentrate on what slaves did not have, however, we focused on what slaves did have and what could not be taken away from them. This was their music and feelings…remembering that “Music is what feelings sound like."
The way slaves reacted to their music helped them to cope with their daily distress and inspired them to reach freedom. Their music helped to reform America. Their stories were told through their lyrics, which have been documented for all to come. Their music also affected many genres of music that remain popular today. Many concentrate on what slaves did not have, however, we focused on what slaves did have and what could not be taken away from them. This was their music and feelings…remembering that “Music is what feelings sound like."