The upside of Afro-Americans’ contribution
The essay entitled “The Negro -Art Hokum” by George S. Schuyler underlines thatthe Afro-
Americans are not capable of producing any radically new art form as they have been born
and brought up in the same environment as their white counterparts. There is no
distinguishable form of Negro art in America and there was little possibility of Afro-
Americans churning out new art forms expressing the peculiar psychology.
The slave songs that the Negros are identified with were mostly based on Protestant hymns
and Biblical texts. While the whites contributed to the development of genres like Jazz music,
there was no denying that dance forms like the Charleston dance had roots in slave dances but
these were contributed by a caste in a small section. Negros living in elsewhere in America
and even Africa were unfamiliar with these dance forms. Such art forms do not reflect the
characteristics of the Negro race. As far as the musical contribution of peasantry of South was
concerned any group of people under similar situation created similar music, it was just a
coincidence that they happened to be coloured people unlike the rest. There were noticeable
similarities between the strains of Russian music and those of the Southern Negro.
Similarly, there is no difference in the literature, paintings and sculptures of Afro-Americans
and Negros and the white Americans. In fact, there is evidence indicating to European
influence.
However, such sweeping denial of the contribution of Afro-Americans looks out of place
when one takes note of deep influence the African music styles on popular genres of
American music and dance (Wilber, 2017). It led to various innovations in music and dance
that helped popularise various forms across the people, irrespective of the colour.
Hilburner (2015) asserts that musical traditions African slaves brought along make a deep
impact on almost every genre of music, blues, rock and roll, and jazz, though they may not

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The Upside of Afro-Americans' Contribution

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