Abstract
This research paper looks into the effect of slavery, as a traumatic communal experience, on music and lyrics. It focuses on the development of narratives out of the collective memory of trauma in the African-American community; which in turn worked first as a tool for freedom and evolved to function as cure and testimony. It addresses the issue of trauma being imbibed into a collective consciousness of a culture and its reflection in the narratives. The research paper looks at narratives used as escape slave codes and deconstructs them. While the primary text used to understand cultural trauma is the lyrics to the song “Strange Fruit” sung by Billie Holiday and written by Abel Meeropol. Trauma theories by Cathy Caruth, Jeffrey C. Alexander and Toni Morrison are used to understand how trauma is manifested in lyrics. The research paper will also look into the account of Billie Holiday to understand the development of Strange Fruit as an anthem and how she performed the song for racially integrated audiences when she felt that the song would receive its due.
Highlights
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as possessions to be bought and sold and are forced to toil
The research paper will look into the account of Billie Holiday to understand the development of Strange Fruit as an anthem and how she performed the song for racially integrated audiences when she felt that the song would receive its due
This research paper addresses the manifestation of trauma in the lyrics of slave songs during the earlier stages of slavery; and jazz and blues songs when recording of music was possible due to advance of technology
Summary
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as possessions to be bought and sold and are forced to toil. Slave ships were large cargo ships that were converted into slave ships for the transportation of slaves that were captured to the United States. This research paper addresses the manifestation of trauma in the lyrics of slave songs during the earlier stages of slavery; and jazz and blues songs when recording of music was possible due to advance of technology. The primary text used for this will be Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” that was written by Abel Meeropol. It is commonly known as an anthem of slavery as it became a symbol of the suffering and discrimination that the African -American community endured for centuries on American soil
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