Mortonexplicitly emphasized the European side of his ancestry. He noted
Morton’s insistence on his European heritage and his claim to being white shows the struggle for social mobility with the Creole society. By trying to involve himself with European, "respectable" identities, Morton is contrasting with Bechet, who had a more flexible and uncertain view of race. This shows the struggles of how jazz musicians in that era had to navigate and often balance complex racial and cultural identities
n those days everybody was playing what they call ragtime, andI wanted to play too. But my daddy caught me trying one day andtook off his belt and tanned me good and proper.
HIs experience with jazz, was not just about skill but was wrapped in moral judgments. His father’s physical punishment and threats demonstrate how deeply disapproved the profession was. Jazz was considered "dirty"and set the standard.
t “Jelly Roll’s raceprejudice was not . . . a singular defect, but a commonly accepted Cre-ole attitude, considered normal by Creoles and non-Creoles alike.
Morton’s racial prejudice wasn’t unusual but was accepted to Creoles. Why was this seen as normal?
highlighting the fact that the music is performed and enjoyedall over the world by a wide diversity of peoples—“can be perceivedas power plays rather than expressions of universal brotherhood
Trying to popularize jazz, especially by white people misrepresents its history
his Afrocentric historiographical stance appears espe-cially warranted in light of the deplorable “white washing” of the mu-sic’s history
What were social problems that contributed to jazz history?
For one, John Chilton has shown that by the age of thirteen, Cre-ole reedman Sidney Bechet was earning around $15 per week—“a lit-tle more than the average wage for a working adu
He was already earning a good wage at thirteen. This shows that music could be a profitable career, even for young musicians. But some still looked down on it so, it wasn’t about the money, but rather the social aspects attached.
He cites figures showing that “in1870, among the city’s 40,000 blacks, only 7 listed their major occu-pation as musician in the census survey
The early jazz years saw very few professional musicians in New Orleans, only seven Black musicians were known. This shows the challenges faced by those pursuing music as a profession in a society where music wasn’t yet seen as a legitimate career path, especially among the Black community
New Orleans entailed virtuallycitywide participation. And while the extraordinary vibrancy of musi-cal life
The music in New Orleans was very alive, there were all of these community events. It wasn’t just about performances but about a culture of music. I found it interesting how musicians were developing their skills mostly in these public settings
I mean us real musiciansfrom the Seventh Ward where we were all educated in music andknew our instruments—when we came in here, we had to change
How would I interpret this statement in the musical evolution in New Orleans?
St. Cyr could remark in 1938 that “the mulattoes [Creoles of color]were actually more prejudiced than the white people at that time.
Creoles attempts to distinguish themselves from african americans were so strong that they adopted attitudes that were like off of white supremacy. This basically meant the problem between creoles and african americans were like blacks and whites.
By the last decade of the nineteenth century,anyone possessing any degree of African blood heritage was deemedlegally “Negro,” ignoring the reality that the vast majority of Creolesconsidered themselves to be more French than anything else.
The influx of Anglo-Americans led to stricter enforcement of racial classifications, which impacted Creoles' social standing regardless of their cultural identity or background
spelled out the rights, responsibilities, and rules ofconduct regarding the interactions of free persons and slave
Code Noir helped form the Creole community in New Orleans by encouraging racial mixing