In the article, Ashby brings up the
Minstrel Shows, which back in the 1840’s, were popular culture and were
extremely racist to African-Americans. White
people made fun of African-Americans by using “blackface makeup”, which was how
whites performing made themselves look black.
At that time, Jim Crow laws were in effect to help segregate white and
African-Americans. In the shows, they had
a Jim Crow dance, in which, whites made fun of the African-Americans dancing. Ashby also brings up Tin Pan Alley where
songwriters dominated popular culture with music. This created a more diverse influence in
music as the songwriters even contributed during WWII making songs to inspire
soldiers fighting.
In the last few weeks, studying
popular culture has made me realize why it’s important. In the beginning, I thought popular culture
was meaningless and had no value to study.
Now, I believe studying popular culture has opened my mind to understand
my own values and beliefs about certain things, like quoted in the article, “varied
entertainment forms, competing companies, censorship, politics, laws and public
policies, the concept of celebrity, altered demographics, shifting audiences,
changing public tastes, fresh talent, and issues of race, class, and gender.”
