The Popular Science Monthly, June, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900Various
Science
The Popular Science Monthly, June, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
In looking over the latent possibilities of the negro people, the
observer can not fail to remark their keen delight in music. Statistics
on this, as on other facts, are lacking; but from what I have been
able to learn, it appears probable that a far greater proportion of
the blacks are sensitive to musical effects than is the case with the
white people. I have indeed never been able to find a black man who
was so far lacking in this sensibility that he did not enjoy the songs
of his people. It is not unlikely that close inquiry would show this
to be a remarkable feature in this unexplored race. As yet little
effort has been made to determine the true measure of this capacity of
the negro for music. It may be that they can not attain to the higher
levels of the art; yet it is perfectly evident that their voices are
exceptionally good, and that they have a keen native sense of time and
tune. The most effective dance music I have ever heard has been made by
negroes who could not read a note. When we consider how large a place
music has in our life, it is a fair suggestion that this quality of the
black nature might well be made the subject of experiment.
Those who look closely at the conditions of the negroes of the South
are led to the belief that the existing separation in sympathy of the
races is not likely long to continue. The greater number of the negroes
instinctively crave a protective relation with the whites. It is the
ancient disposition of the weak man to lean upon the strong which has
in all ages and lands determined the relations of folk. At present the
two peoples are held apart by the memories of slavery, rather than
by any real personal dislike--the race prejudice which so commonly
separates the Northern white from the negro. As this temporary barrier
wears down, we may hope to find a new form of association arising--one
in which the negroes will seek and find their friends among the trusted
men of the superior race. I have seen marks of this new relation here
and there, not many nor very clear, but fairly indicative of what may
come about, provided the political excitement is allowed to subside
and the people of the South, black and white, make their adjustments
according to their motives and capacities, with no reference to the
Federal power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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