The civil rights movement and the events that happened prior have been something I felt I didn’t know enough about. Naturally, I was intrigued when my social studies teachers introduced it as our next unit. In case you are unaware, I am what most would call white. My skin is pale like my mother’s and father’s. However, the term white has more meaning than just the colour of one’s skin.

White people are privileged because of years of racial injustice. For over four hundred years since the beginning of slavery in America, white people have held themselves above African American people. The New York Times started an outstanding project called The 1619 Project to shed light on the true history of African American people in America. The articles I read from the project got me thinking about the world I live in today and how we got here. America’s economic growth can be traced back to the hard work of thousands of enslaved people. I started looking at the things around me and saw the history within the food I ate, the clothes I wore and the music I listened to. I believe I’ve been ignorant about this topic for too long so to show my understanding I created an art piece about ignorance.

The drawing I created highlights three things. America’s sugar industry, Cotton industry and American music. I read some really great articles on these subjects and that is how the idea for this drawing came to me. All the things you see in the image are things I and billions of other people enjoy every day. But what about the history behind it all.

America’s Sugar Industry

Sugar Cane was introduced to America in 1491. At the time sugar in Europe was a luxury. No one ever predicted sugar would become the mass-produced product it is today. In 2019 Florida manufactured 17.06 tons of sugar. In this article from the 1619 project;

Americans consume as much as 77.1 pounds of sugar and related sweeteners per person per year, according to United States Department of Agriculture data. That’s nearly twice the limit the department recommends, based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

– 1619 project article by Khalil Gibran Muhammad, New York Times

The production of America’s “White Gold” was a treacherous process. It is safe to say that its success as a regularly produced good is because of the enormous amount of enslaved labourers who had no say in doing the backbreaking and dangerous work. Sugar cane stalks had to be harvested and refined the day of harvest otherwise it would spoil. Adults and children worked in factory line assemblies near boilers, open furnaces and grinding rollers. The factories ran night and day to achieve the highest efficiency at the cost of its workers.

In my art piece, the woman lays in her bed enjoying an abundance of sweets that are so easy to obtain today. I hope that people, including myself, will recall the sacrifices made for the success of sugar today.

America’s Cotton Industry

Cotton in the 19th century was America’s largest and most valuable export. Its success, like “white gold”, came from enslaved labour. All-day, African American men, women and children picked cotton by hand and tossed it into sacks that hung from their necks. At the end of the day, those sacks were weighed, and if they were too light, the workers were beaten. So much cruelty was shown towards the enslaved, all to make a profit. The influence of cotton plantations is still recognizable today. Cotton is everywhere. It’s in the clothes we were and the bed sheets we sleep soundly in. The women in my drawing is laying in her bed with the cotton bed sheets wrinkled around her. In her bliss, she doesn’t know about the history behind those sheets she lays so comfortably in.

“American” Music

America is known for this musical sound that it has. Rock and Roll, Jazz and Pop music has been chewed up and spat out by some of the most famous American singers and songwriters. The 1619 project has a great podcast and article on the topic and that is why it became one of the focuses of my art. The sounds that have become known as American music have a much deeper and darker root then I think most people realize.

My dad loved sharing the music of his time (growing up in the 50s) with me. We spin records in our living room and he shares all the stories he knows about each album and artist with me. One thing he told me about was about the stolen music that white artists would take from African American blues singers. Though stealing was not always the intended purpose.

In 1830 an actor named Rice was touring with a theatre company in Cincinnati. While there he ran into an old black man singing while grooming a horse. Rice took the tune and tried to make something of it, but something wasn’t working. So the night of one of his shows, he painted some melted cork onto his face and preformed that stolen tune. That night the blackface minstrel shows would go on to become America’s entertainment and define how white Americans interpreted African Americans.

Since then music has evolved into this melting pot of genres, but all of them, whether the artists knew it or not was influenced by African American singers. The enslaved found ways to be free through music and art. None of which was composed but instead built from exhaustion, hope and feelings. As Wesly Morris from the new york times’ 1619 project said in his article;

I had to laugh — not because as a category Yacht Rock is absurd, but because what I tasted in that absurdity was black.

So what’s my goal?

My goal with this art project was to teach myself and others to look at the things around you differently. To see the things in your home and all around you and to truly know the history. The art I chose to create wasn’t just some random idea I had. It derived from how I felt before starting this project. I didn’t know a lot about the civil rights movement before this and I still have a ways to go. But I am approaching this unit with the willingness to learn as much as I can.