It is essential to address the social conditions under which certain musical expressions and expansions arose. In the shadow of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) and an utterly failed attempt at Reconstruction, America was in a tumultuous social and economic divide. A new systemic structure aimed at the continued suppression of African American society was well underway during this time. "Jim Crow" laws deemed races separate but certainly not equal. The name Jim Crow refers to a minstrel character created by Thomas Dartmouth Rice, a White man born in New York City in 1808 who devoted himself to the theater in his twenties.

• Identify specific tropes of the various genres of sacred and secular music of African Americans.
• Analyze the socio-cultural political context imposed on African Americans from post-Reconstructed America.
• Compare and contrast emerging genres by styles and elements of previous music.
• Describe the evolution of gospel music while identifying various tropes from other genres.