Music

Music has always been a part of African American culture. It was originated by enslaved Africans in the southern United States and was composed, played and sung in several forms. In African music, in both its original and its various Americanized forms, different beats are frequently superimposed, creating powerful polyrhythms that are perhaps the most striking and moving element of African music. Music was used as a way of expressing feelings and to get through the workday in the fields. When African Americans as slaves were not allowed to speak, they would say what they were feeling through a song. The music created and performed by black people was ragtime, jazz, and the blues.

Ragtime, a form of music that is played on the piano, emerged in the 1890's , with musical roots tied to plantation life. Ragtime pieces were not accompanied by lyrics and were not meant to be sung; it combined a sixteenth-note-based syncopated melody with the form and feel of a march. On the piano this was achieved by the left hand playing a steady "boom-chic" bass and chord pattern and the right hand playing the syncopated tune. Playing in this syncopated style