In Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York, we investigated the role of immigration and migration in shaping New York City’s identity—past, present, and future. As a conclusion to the course, we created a website that presents the independent research that we conducted. Some of our website topics include: immigrant trajectories, gentrification, music scenes in sociological context and neighborhood demographic change over time.

The “Rhythm” section of this website focuses on a wide range of topics, such as the inclusion of music in the hearts of communities and individuals. With a concentration on the lyrics and composition of various genres, this category captures the way that music can influence the urban identity. From Bob Marley, to Kanye West, to the upbeat tempos of Mambo on the streets of the barrio, this section offers a diverse collection of musical themes to explore.

Essays in the “Identity” category address the immigration experiences of several groups, focusing on their patterns of adaptation, their socioeconomic outcomes, and their relations with other groups. These essays range from the diversity of Indian Americans and immigration stories of Jews in NYC to Korean Americans’ perspectives of African Americans and the relationship between various ethnic groups of Asian Americans.

There are two “Turf” essays on Harlem and one on Jackson Heights, Queens. One of the Harlem essays traces neighborhood change since the Harlem Renaissance, while the other analyzes media coverage of Harlem gentrification from the 1980s until the current day. The third essay traces neighborhood change in Jackson Heights, Queens, which has undergone considerable racial transition without experiencing economic decline.

For a list of all essays, click here.

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Throughout history immigration has been prominent as a driving force for an innumerable amount of change including and very notably in the linguistics of American society. As groups of individuals have arrived to America from a myriad of foreign countries a dispersion of culture, customs and languages have followed suit, all of which contribute to the customs and languages we see today. New York stands out from all of the U.S states as a historical center for immigration and likewise for its distinct accent commonly referred to as the New York accent. According to Sheila McClear in her New York Post article “Why the classic Noo Yawk accent is fading away” the New York accent is slowly disappearing. Plays such as “A View From the Bridge” or even modern TV shows such as “The Sopranos” could be one of the last places where this distinct aspect of New York can be found.

In the article it is stated “Linguists say features of the classic accent are heard less and less in the city itself, especially among the younger generation”(McClear 2010).  In short hand the New York accents slow disappearance can be attributed to the constant change and shifts in population but in reality the situation is far more complex. The question that arises is then how has the New York accent been affected by immigration as opposed to the very distinct Southern accent? Are any differences between these two widely recognized accents due to the difference in influx of immigrants? Through careful analysis of immigration patterns to New York and the southern state of Alabama, as well as the tendencies for these states to accept immigrants one could determine if the larger and more dynamic influx of immigrants to NYC has had a greater impact on the New York accent than has the influx of immigrants to the Alabama southern accent.

New York City has been considered as America’s melting pot of languages, cultures and customs and even today we see the pot stirring as more and more immigrants arrive to NYC every day. It is currently home to over 8.5 million people making it the most populated city in the U.S (US Census 2014). When looking at New York City, with a population ranging from 18% to 40% foreign-born over the last century, Compared to the diversity of the country as a whole with only 12.6% foreign born, it is evident that ethnic diversity of the city has remained persistent up until today (US Census 2010).

Though the development of the New York accent cannot be particularly traced back to its origins, pioneers in linguistics like William Labov have theorized that the variations of the New York accent are a result of the building up or layering of ethnic speech from the waves of immigrants that settled in the city (1966).The earliest settlement by the Dutch and English, followed in the 1800s by the Irish and Midwesterners of French, German, Irish, Scandinavian, and Scottish descent have all contributed and fused in the development of the accent. One key component in linguists is the “R” which helps to distinguish the New York accent from other accents. Not only do New Yorkers drop the R, the R is added where it is not needed, usually when the next word starts with a vowel, which creates “I sawr it with my very own eyes!” and “The sofer in the living room is green”. Stephen Gabis describes the New York accent’s formation as  “New York speech gradually [getting] “a little slower, a bit lazier, and the muscularity was relaxed,” becoming less stiff and leaning toward the heavier “ga’head” (translation: “go ahead”)(McClear 2010).

Perhaps one of the most prominent and distinguished individuals to represent the New York accent would include president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt being a New York native exuded the New York accent including during his first inaugural address where he says “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” On his radio address the distinct New York accent is distinguished, as “We have nothing to feee-ah but fee-ah itself.” From that point on it became considered distinguished to drop your Rs.

New York has a prolonged history of constant migration and immigration and thus the question arises if migration is in fact a major driving factor for the transmission and diffusion of languages/dialects then why is it that only up until recently have we seen the decline of the new york accent? The answer lies in 1965 Immigration Act that put an end to country quotas and opened up immigration to the world. The law allowed for multiple family and employment pathways to the United States that brought another great surge to New York, which would once again put the city on a course to reinvent itself. (One Out of Three: p870-872). The 1965 Immigration Act is considered the seminal piece of federal legislation that has shaped the demography of New York City for nearly half a century and perhaps even the dialectology of New York as this allowed for a greater influx of immigrants from all countries to New York that would have precipitated the diffusion of the New York accent.

To determine the prominence of the New York accent today one could compare Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer’s accent who is also a native New Yorker born in Brooklyn.

One can immediately discern the difference between the FDR’s New York accent and Schumers New York accent. While Schumers New York accent is arguably noticeable there is a wide distinction between Schumer’s accent and FDR’s accent as it is clear that FDR’s accent is much more discernable. In order to determine how immigration has impacted the New York accent it is reasonable to also compare the affects of immigration to other accents in regions of the country where immigration has not been as monumental as in NYC.

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In order to determine how immigration has impacted the New York accent it is reasonable to also compare the affects of immigration to other accents in regions of the country where immigration has not been as monumental as in NYC. As history shows, most settlers arriving to the New World settled in the Northeastern part of the country, rather than in the South. This large gap in settlement was in part because of the difficult conditions in the southern cities, where overcrowding and illness were common. As a result, early development in southern regions differed from that of northern regions and created two socially individual worlds. This distinction can be seen for example in the impact that immigration patterns had on the development and retention of the southern accent in states like Alabama. Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States and is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Mississippi to the west, and Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Alabama’s location amongst the heart of the “black belt” allowed it to remain relatively isolated from newly arriving immigrants for most of its history.

From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. As the southern economic and social development deteriorated and became increasingly isolated, southern states including Alabama, with little economic pull for new immigrants did not experience much of the large-scale U.S. immigration that occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Alabama being the “heart of the confederacy” was especially hard hit in terms of the decay of inward immigration.

The Southern Accent is diverse and though many can’t really hear the difference, the accents from state to state are different in their own ways. Southern dialects originated in large part from a mix of immigrants from the British Isles, who moved to the South in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the creole or post-creole speech of African slaves. Like most other dialects and accents the development of the southern accent cannot be particularly traced back to any one origin and is believed to have developed from a constellation of factors. The Alabama southern accent is widely considered to be somewhere in between a rhotic and non-rhotic accent, meaning that in some words natives tend to drop the R’s while in others it is retained. In a video titled “How to Do an Alabama Accent”, dialect coach Andrea Caban emphasizes some of the main distinctions of the Alabama accent from other southern accents. “i” becomes “ah”. And it’s not a lengthened “ah” like you hear in a Mississippi accent but it’s, “ah”, as in “tiny, mine”, just like that. And then the “a” dipthong, as in “play, take” becomes “play, take”. “Eh” turns to “i”. So, “friend, tend” turns to “frind, tind”(How Cast 2013).

The Alabama accent like other accents has its distinctions that sets it apart from other southern accents but through the years and generations has it changed as much as the New York Accent? An analysis of the recordings from the 1940s in which Joe McDonald a man from Livingston, Alabama is interviewed to discuss how he felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom allows one to hear the distinct accent that Caban speaks of (Lomax 1940).

When compared to a recording of an interview of Alabama state senator Richard Shelby (CullmanCommunityTV55 2012) in which he discusses the prowess of the state of Alabama the similarities in the accent is clearly heard and astoundingly similar.

When comparing the accents heard in these two recording the augmented accent retention between these two individuals living in two very different time periods is observed. It is then reasonable to conclude that accent retention in Alabama is in part influenced by its immigration patterns. In comparison to the the Alabama accent the New York accents retention has an apparent diminished and it is also reasonable to say that this is in part influenced by its immigration patterns.

References

1. 2012. Senator Richard Shelby Interview, Cullman, Alabama. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buLEbSokzQ)
2. Donato, Katharine. 2006. The Changing Face of the Gulf Coast: Immigration to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/changing-face-gulf-coast-immigration-louisiana-mississippi-and-alabama)
3. Federal Writer’s Project. 1938. New York panorama: a comprehensive view of the metropolis. New York, NY: Random House.
4. How Cast. 2013. How to Do an Alabama Accent | Accent Training. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3iouDIA6Dw)
5. McClear, Sheila.  2010.  Why the classic Noo Yawk accent is fading away.  New York Post.  Retrieved April 26, 2015(http://nypost.com/2010/02/06/why-the-classic-noo-yawk-accent-is-fading-away/)
6. Labov, William. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistic
7. Lomax, Ruby T. 1940. Interview with Joe McDonald, Livingston, Alabama, 1940. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (http://memory.loc.gov/service/afc/afc9999001/4033b.mp3)
8. One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the 21st Century (Kindle Locations 870-872). Columbia University Press. Kindle Edition.
9. US Census Bureau. 2014. American Community Survey. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (census.gov/acs.)
10. 2015. Southern American English. Retrieved April 26, 2015 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English)

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New York City is the melting pot of the United States. People of all ethnic backgrounds migrate here in hopes of a new life and to achieve their aspirations. In the 1940s, an influx of immigrants traveled to New York City. The trend was that those of the same ethnicity moved to the same area. It gave them a sense of community and made them feel at home in a place that was far from being their home. They were displaced in an interstitial area. As defined by Frederic M. Thrasher, a prominent sociologist in the 1920s from the University of Chicago, an interstitial area is a slum, for lack of a euphemistic synonym (Cordasco and Galatioto 1971). These areas are characterized by population shifts, deterioration, and cultural isolation (Cordasco and Galatioto 1971). Every ethnic group wants to keep their culture and one of the ways they do this is by making music. As Stevie Wonder once said, “Music is a world within itself, and a language we all understand.” Music created an outlet for those who felt lonely, or hopeful, or it was an escape from the extreme poverty most immigrants lived in. Musical culture was especially true in Harlem, an interstitial community, where large factions of Hispanic immigrants from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, etc., congregated to live. There were so many Hispanics that the area of Harlem where they resided was renamed Spanish Harlem or El Barrio. This displaced community supported itself through the development of music, more specifically, salsa and Latin Jazz. The development of such music became integral to the culture of the area and essentially became an occupational entry point for many Hispanic Harlemites. Just like music, Spanish Harlem was a world in and of itself.

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East Harlem enabled the Latino community to remain untouched by the outside world because it was generally isolated. It was sheltered by the New York City Railroad, Mount Morris Park and the Harlem and East Rivers (Cordasco and Galatioto 1971). As a result, the Latinos were capable of preserving their culture within this space. Spanish Harlem grew to encompass all of East Harlem as the Hispanic community essentially pushed the Italians and Jews up north to the Bronx (Lapp 2010). Italian Harlem quickly decreased in size. However, there are still certain streets, from 114th street to 118th street, clustered around Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where few Italians still inhabit (Berger 2002). El Barrio was a prime example of cultural isolation. Every street had a bodega or a botánica. And under the Park Avenue Railroad viaduct a street market was established from 111th street to 116th street, named La Marqueta. There were even more Catholic and Evangelical churches popping up around the neighborhood (Lapp 2010). Latin culture thrived with Puerto Rican and Dominican flags garnering the windows. Puerto Ricans were the dominant ethnic group and they made their presence known with the Puerto Rican self-determination and neighborhood empowerment movement in 1969.

The Hispanic culture was also brought forth through music. In the 1920s, jazz was the popular genre. It was developed by African Americans from the south and traveled up north to where it became popular in New York City, until Mario Bauzá and his orchestra took it to a whole other level with Latin Jazz. Bauzá was an immigrant from Cuba, who had come to New York to play with Antonio Mariá Romeu’s seven-piece orchestra, as a pianist (Fletcher 2009). He officially moved to New York City at the age of eighteen, with the hopes of making his own way as a musician (Fletcher 2009). He travelled with the Havana Casino Orchestra (Fletcher 2009). Unfortunately, Bauzá discovered that the prejudice he faced back home was all too real in the states, including New York City (Fletcher 2009). The Latinos faced an entirely different struggle than the African Americans in the city. Hispanics were not black enough to be accepted into the Black community, and were too dark to be accepted into the white community (Fletcher 2009). Physically, they were displaced, but also emotionally because they did not feel like they belonged anywhere, except where music was involved. Latin Jazz was all the rhythm and soul of regular jazz but with Caribbean/Cuban flair. This new genre contributed percussion and Latin rhythms to its predecessor. Frank “Machito” Grillo was Bauzá’s brother-in-law and also an avid musician (Fletcher 2009). Bauzá invited him to the states after Bauzá had gained so much success in his music (Fletcher 2009). The two went on to construct an orchestra that incorporated rhythms from their country and the music they had both grown to love, jazz (Fletcher 2009). Latin Jazz became a real hit with Machito and the Afro-Cubans orchestra, under the musical directorship of Mario Bauzá. Bauzá’s “Tanga” for Machito’s orchestra was considered by the Jazz critics to be the first real sample of Latin Jazz. The band took their pain about being an immigrant in a foreign country and wrote about it. For example, Machito’s Sopa de Pichon was a Puerto Rican joke about being a starving immigrant in New York (Radanovich 2009).

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The influence of Machito and the Afro-Cubans spread to other aspiring artists, such as the legendary Tito Puente. An American born Puerto Rican (or Nuyorican, as such are called), Puente became a musician professionally at the tender age of 16, and even apprenticed under Machito’s orchestra (Loza 1999). Puente fostered a genuine passion for the music and Machito was one of his idols (Loza 1999). He grew up in Spanish Harlem and his mother tried her best to get him the best musical education so he could get out of El Barrio (Loza 1999). Puente experimented with all sorts of rhythms and music styles. As a result of this, Puente transformed what was once Mambo into something completely different: Salsa. Salsa music was created in El Barrio, by combining Latin Jazz with Mambo. Initially, Tito Puente was donned the King of Mambo, but perhaps he should be called the Father of Salsa. The idea that salsa was spawned from a combination of Latin jazz and mambo implies that despite the obvious isolation in East Harlem, there was still “outside” cultural influences. This is in reference to the multiple ethnic groups that lived in Harlem, like the Italians, the Jews, the Black community and the Latin Community. Each had their “own” neighborhoods, which is not saying that the areas in which they lived were completely dominated by one ethnic group. Of the four mentioned, the Black community and the Latino community had the most influence on each other. Their influence had much to do with the fact that their neighborhoods were essentially “butting up” against the one another. As a result there was a cultural synergy that produced first, Latin jazz and sequentially, Salsa. The combination of cultural isolation and “outside” cultural influences occurred in other areas of New York, including The Bronx.

The relative cultural isolation contributed to the conversion of Latin music into an ethnic niche within East Harlem. An ethnic niche refers to a development of something (usually involves a business of sorts) through contacts within one’s own ethnic community, but it expands its reach beyond this boundary. An ethnic niche may shift depending on the atmosphere it is interacting with. For example, Korean immigrants (and later Korean Americans) began their business venture with produce stores, clothing stores, restaurants, etc. with a central focus on the Korean community (Foner 2013). A large percentage of this community can be found in Queens District 11 (Oakland Gardens, Bayside, Little Neck and Douglaston) (Foner 2013). The most successful businesses run by Koreans were the produce and the wig industry (Lee 2006). In 1978 there were some 350 produce stores run by Korean immigrants who usually had little to no business experience and very little capital (Lee 2006). By 1995 Korean run produce stores made up about 85% in that industry in the Metropolitan area (Lee 2006). Even now, produce stores are the most visible signs of Korean entrepreneurship in the city (Lee 2006). On the other end of the spectrum, the wig industry was another economic entry point similar to retail produce. Korean immigrants imported Korean made wigs, and quickly became wholesalers of the trade (Lee 2006). Unfortunately, the wig industry has since died out, and although there are still a few people who frequent these business establishments, the industry is not as prominent as it once was (Lee 2006). However, the experience from running these businesses has allowed Korean immigrants to move into other industries and “set up shop.”  Eventually, the Koreans moved into the nail salon business, which was originally occupied by African American women. However, the trend is the same, Koreans are finding the same economic adaptation to their new homes through small business ownership (Lee 2006). Consequently, this could be considered their “ethnic niche” rather than the types of small businesses they run. In lieu of that, an ethnic niche can be a broader spectrum of “occupations” in order to help the immigrant adapt to their surroundings. Despite ethnic niches being singular in their demographics, the customers they serve are not. In order for these businesses to be successful, the owners cannot pick favorites with regard to the ethnicity of their customers. Otherwise, the business would fail. An example of this is the fact that despite the stereotype Black-Korean tension, Korean nail salons serve Black clients in the inner city.

In relation, Latin music is an ethnic niche for the Latino community in East Harlem. The inhabitants of El Barrio took to music as a way to adapt to their new home. The various orchestras, such as Tito Puente’s orchestra and Machito and the Afro-Cubans were signed to a label and were profiting from the music. Becoming a Latin jazz musician or a Salsa musician was characteristic of only the Hispanic community. No one else was able to replicate the beats and rhythms created by Tito Puente and Machito’s Afro-Cubans. As much as jazz became mainstream, Latin jazz and Salsa was unique to Latinos. However, the music didn’t cater to only the Hispanic community. Clubs, like the Palladium, were open to people of all ethnic backgrounds and various Latin bands and orchestras played at these clubs. Hispanic musicians knew, just as any entrepreneur knows, that in order for success to happen, they need to appeal to all cultures and not just their own. The bands played “white-washed” jazz pieces in order to gain a following with the non-Latino crowds. Similar to the trends within Korean entrepreneurship, the popularity with Latin music fluctuates. It began with the Latin jazz era, but the musician Tito Puente was famous for altering his style and technique to keep up with the trends. He augmented Latin jazz to transform it into mambo, which is considered to be one of the greatest Latin music ever created. From mambo, Puente shifted again, combining mambo and Latin jazz to create Salsa, which really encompasses all Latin music and Latin-influenced music, and was the next big trend in the music industry.

Works Cited:

Berger, Joseph. 2002. “Sit in This Chair, Go Back in Time; Barber is Unchanged as Old Neighborhood Vanishes.” The New York Times.

Cordasco, Francesco and Galatioto, Rocco G. 1971. “Ethnic Displacement in the Interstitial Community: The East Harlem (New York City) Experience.” The Journal of Negro Education 40:56-65.

Fletcher, Tony. 2009. All Hopped Up and Ready To Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77. New York: W.W. Norton &Company, Inc.

Lapp, Michael. 2010. “East Harlem” in Jackson, Kenneth T.(ed.). The Encyclopedia of New York City (2nd edition). New Haven: Yale University Press pp.390–391

Lee, Eunju. 2006. Gendered processes Korean Immigrant Small Business Ownership. New York: Thesis PhD-University of Albany.

Loza, Stephen Joseph. 1999. Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Riis, Jacob. 1914. How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Hip-hop music is evidently the most popular genre of music in the United States in 2015. Dominating radio stations in NYC and LA, it has played a significant role in the histories of these two cities and intriguingly represents changes in policy through changes in the music itself. Both NYC and LA once suffered from extreme gang violence and organized crime and both were the breeding grounds for the hip-hop industry[1]. In the United States, you can clearly see (rap) hip-hop’s domination. Additionally, Billboard’s Hot 100 records can be used to track popular music and sort by various genres, over the years.

Using this information, connections can be made between changes in the hip-hop industry with the increase and decrease of gang violence, organized crime as well as the economy. Rap music, specifically, shows to be an incredible representation of African American youth culture. The fact that the hip-hop industry shows change with the times makes it an aid in examining society during those times, as change often reveals growth (Keyes 1996).

In the 1980s, rap music was already a billion dollar industry. It proved worthy, thriving in the mainstream music industry that was previously solely based on instrumentals and vocals, and by being acknowledged in 20/20’s magazine in 1981. Having originated from The Bronx, the music coming out was being made by young blacks in urban areas who rapped about their problems, their lifestyles, and later on, their political views. However, despite the undeniable popularity, many critics at the time made claims towards the idea of “rap rage.” Some middle class Americans saw rap as an instigator for violence. The lyrics and beats were said to induce violent behavior.

Listening to rap music was considered lower class (Keyes 2002). Ironically according to Afrika Bambaataa, who can be accredited as one of the founding fathers of rap music, explains that rap was introduced for an opposite reason. He was quoted in 1986 saying, “I had them to battle against each other in a nonviolent way like rapper against rapper rather than knife against knife.” (Keyes 1996)

In Billboard’s Hot 100 Hip-hop songs category in 1985, no rap category or rap songs were listed. Instead, Aretha Franklin’s, “Freeway Of Love,” and Stevie Wonder’s, “Part Time Lover,” dominated the charts for the longest periods of time. Both hits can be classified as cheerful and upbeat, and both are basic songs about love without any political message. Freeway Of Love featured some choir and jazz, but still sounds very far from rap music in the 1990s. They show some influences of hip-hop and disco but are better associated with the mainstream music of the 1980s.

Ten years later, Billboard’s Hot 100 Hip-hop Rap songs, 2Pac’s, “Dear Mama,” The Notorious B.I.G’s, “Big Poppa,” and Coolio’s, “Gangsta’s Paradise,” were the dominating songs for that year. Dear Mama, is lyrically explicit, painting a picture of what life was like for famous rapper, 2Pac who grew up in East Harlem, NYC. The song Dear Mama also features a slow chill beat that is similar to the one in Big Poppa. Big Poppa also contains explicit content, talking about sex and shedding light onto gang violence and drugs. Gangsta’s Paradise is quite different from the other two hits in that it displays a political message. This rap poetically expresses why the education system is not designed for children in the ghetto and displays the issues that people in his neighborhood face. The overall message that he gives out is that people in the hood are living in what they think is paradise, being gangsters and all, however they are, “so blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me.”

During the 1990s NYC’s government began to enforce measures to stop organized crime and help poor areas of the city. Poorer areas happened to be African American neighborhoods such as in the Bronx where people were still suffering from decentralized racism. In 1993 the current parental advisory warning label was introduced with the intention of keeping young children from being exposed to harmful material. However with the new and more readily available computers and networks available, hip-hop was able to become more recognizable through popular online file sharing sites like Napster.

More directly, in 1994 NYC’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani hired a new police commissioner, William Bratton. Giuliani and Bratton are widely credited for the (now) city’s quality, lack of gang influences, lack of corruption, and low crime rates. Although the (then) mayor and police commissioner may have had a huge impact on the city, laws passed by congress such as RICO (1970) and COBRA (1986) also had an influence on the current status of the city. RICO Law, or Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, was used in the 1990s to finally bring charges to mafia heads. This resulted in federal prosecutors successfully locking up many gang leaders and affiliates. COBRA, or Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, entitles employees to continuous health coverage for an extended period of time after termination. This in term allowed the unemployed to maintain health coverage while they look for another job and keep people from looking to unorthodoxed ways of making money (crime). Gun Laws also became more restrictive after a massive school shooting that resulted in the ban of public owner ship of automatic and military grade weapons.

Additionally in 1992, the CDC reports that abortion was legalized in New York as well as in 39 other states resulting in a large increase in the number of abortions. Up until then, abortion was illegal and only women with money and high status could afford to go out of the country for safe medical treatment. Poorer women (mostly minorities) turned to self-abortion through very unorthodox and unsafe measures, or carried the unwanted child (Blanchard et al. 2014).

With abortion being legalized, mothers, who would have other wise struggled to raise their children, had the opportunity live without the burden of a child. In poorer neighborhoods this meant a reduction of unplanned/unwanted children that would have been improperly cared for, some from drug-addicted parents or from like situations (crack babies) and the eventual small reduction of the lower class population (Dubner and Levitt 2005: 122). The authors of Freakonomics, Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt accredit these changes in laws to the improvement of NYC in the 1990s.

In 2005, distinct changes appear in hip-hop music. Billboard’s Hot 100 Hip-hop Rap songs for 2005 featured 50 Cent’s, “Candy Shop,” Akon’s, “Soul Survivor,” and Kanye West’s, “Gold Digger.” Candy Shop expresses sexual behaviors in an extremely vulgar manner, with lines like, “You gon’ back that thing up, or should I push up on it?” Soul Survivor talks about life in the ghetto that would put previous rap artists to shame. Glorifying thug life, the song talks about life on the streets only unlike previous raps, the message that this song sends is one that Gangsta’s Paradise was trying to avoid. Akon brags about his upbringing, “Cuz if you lookin’ for me, you can find me on the block disobeyin’ the law A real G, thoroughbred from the streets Pants Saggin’ with my **** in my drawers.”

The hit songs of this year express the transition from poverty to wealth and it seems although the hit rap artists had were glorifying poverty. Gold Digger goes along with the theme, expressing the wealth of hip-hop artists although towards the end, Kanye West throws in the line, “But when you get on he leave yo ass for a white girl.” He plays with the idea that after you have money, the next step is to be white in order to climb the ladder of success. However, very subtle, innuendos like the ones Kanye uses are far from, “protest raps” that also existed at the time, such as, “Fuck Tha Police,” by N.W.A.

The drastic change to glorifying black culture in Hip-hop Rap can be explained by the change in gang violence and organized crime in both New York and California. The methods used to clean up New York City were very successful and later adapted by California’s state government. The hip-hop industry was representing a change in society as well as a change in the economy. The Furman Center compiles a yearly statistic on housing, demographics, and quality of life in NYC’s neighborhoods[2]. It includes data and analysis of trends on NYC as a whole as well as each borough along with each of its community districts. “Various areas of the Bronx have been subject to rezoning proposals recently. Downzoning efforts in neighborhoods such as Riverdale-on-Hudson, Morris Park, Olinville, Pelham Bay, and Westchester Square have been approved by City Council. Other recent projects in the borough include the Bronx Terminal Market and the new Yankee Stadium. The Terminal Market is a $400 million, one million square-foot retail center, which is anticipated to create 5,000 jobs.” – State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods: 2005 Report – The Bronx. The Bronx in 2005 was still suffering from distress but had clear signs of improvement.

Billboard’s hot 100 hits for 2015 include Big Sean’s, “I Don’t F*** With You,” and Fetty Wap’s, “Trap Queen.” These two hits are noticeably more unintelligent than the ones of the past. In relation leads to the question of, “What does this mean about society in 2015?” Hip-hop is progressive like government and policy; this is in order to continue to meet the fads of society. It is important to note that Hip-hop contains many subgenres, rap being one of them, which also has its own subgenres.

[1] Time Magazine shares an incredible visual representation of the extent of music genres all over the world. (http://time.com/3697123/music-genres-around-the-world-grammy-awards/)

[2] “State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods.” – Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy (http://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/SOC2005_Bronx_000.pdf)

Keyes, C. L. (1996). At the Crossroads: Rap Music and Its African Nexus. Ethnomusicology, 40(2), 223–248. http://doi.org/10.2307/852060

“State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods.” – Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2015.

Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. New York: William Morrow, 2005. Print.

Bollig, B. (2002). White Rapper/Black Beats: Discovering a Race Problem in the Music of Gabriel o Pensador. Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana, 23(2), 159–178.

Keyes, C. L. (1996). At the Crossroads: Rap Music and Its African Nexus. Ethnomusicology, 40(2), 223–248. http://doi.org/10.2307/852060

Kornin, Lisa M., M.N., M.P.H., and Jack C. Smith, M.S. “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 1990.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Dec. 1993. Web. 03 May 2015.

Love, D. A. (n.d.). Hip-hop and politics have a long history behind the mic. Retrieved from http://thegrio.com/2010/06/15/hip-hop-and-politics-have-a-long-history-behind-the-mic/

More, T. M. (n.d.). Can Hip-Hop Change The Style Of Politics? Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/2012/01/16/145185983/can-hip-hop-change-the-style-of-politics

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Introduction

New York City is a hub for Jews from all regions of the world. One in five people in NYC Jewish households are Russian speaking. Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Spanish, and other forms of Sephardic Jews call New York City their home. The First Jews in New York City were Sephardic refugees fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. In the early 1800s, the first Ashkenazi settled in New York. Although they share the same religion, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews have different experiences in New York City in terms of: reasons for immigrating, settlement patterns, socioeconomic status, and views on intermarriage.

Ashkenazi

Victim of Fanaticism (1899) Nikolai Pimonenko: This depicts the fear in the aftermath of a Russian pogrom

Initially, Soviet Jews were blocked from leaving the U.S.S.R. After being inspired by Israel’s military success in the Six Day War of 1967, Soviet Jews became more adamant about their right to immigrate. The Brezhnev government was highly anti-Semitic, comparing Israel with the Third Reich and protesting the “overrepresentation” of Jews in universities and performing arts. Few exit visas were granted before 1971; applicants lost their jobs. If they were denied visas, Jews were thrown in jail as political prisoners. Only zealous Zionists dared apply. Under political pressure from the U.S., Western Europe, and fellow communist parties, the Soviet Union finally allowed the Jews to leave in the spring of 1971. Jews exited by the tens of thousands. Before 1976, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society gave no choice but to go to Israel. Afterwards, Soviet Jews were given the opportunity to immigrate to America; many did. Half of this number stayed in New York City and settled in commercial strips such as South Brooklyn and Forest Hill, Queens. In the early 1980s, the Soviets closed their doors yet again. In 1979, 51,320 left; in 1984, only 522 were allowed to leave. When Gorbachev became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1980, he released Jewish political prisoners and made emigration easier. Anti-Semitism skyrocketed in 1989, the 1,000 year anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church. Jews faced violent, hostile leaflets threatening pogroms and crosses etched on their doorposts. Fearing for their lives, 106,677 Jews fled between 1989 and 1991. Late, between 1997 and 2005, Jews left Russia because of a desire for family reunification, anti-Semitism, and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear energy explosion that caused cancer to skyrocket.

Russians Immigrating to NYC to Reunite With Family

The Elderly East European Jews beforehand had settled in Brighton Beach (affectionately nicknamed “Little Odessa”), Sheepshead Bay, and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn as well as Forest Hills and Rego Park Queens. Culturally Jewish but not religiously so, most Soviet Jews did not speak English and could not communicate with the older Eastern European Jews who had settled in Brighton Beach years before. This created a social rife in the community because Eastern European Jews outwardly doubted the Soviet’s Jewish identity. Still, because of their traditions and the anti-Semitism they faced, Soviet Jews strongly identified as being Jewish and were offended by the Eastern Europeans’ accusations.

Barbara Streisand: A Russian Ashkenazi Jew from Brooklyn

Home to a large Bukharian population, Forest Hills, Queens is referred to as Bukatharon Broadway, or Queensistan. Descended from Russian Jews, Bukharians speak Bukhori, write in Hebrew characters, and share cultural identity with Iranian Jews. Seen as inferior because of their darker skin, Bukharians are taunted as being “not real Jews” by other former Soviet Jews. Bukharians parents try to restrict their children by arranging marriages and restricting their career choices. In the light of control, Bukharian wives are often victims of domestic abuse. Only 15% of Soviet Jews in New York City are Bukharian; however, they compose of 50% of NYANA’s domestic violence programs. Closed off, Queenistan is a refuge for the Bukharian outcasts.

Sephardic

Although when most people think of American Jews they envision Europeans, Sephardic Jews were the first Jews in America – colonial America, to be exact. Known to be quite wealthy and influential, many of these colonial American Jews intermarried with their Christian neighbors. Today, most Sephardic Jews in New York City are from the former Ottoman Empire. Additionally, many Sephardic Jews immigrated to New York City because they faced chauvinism, curbs on foreign exchange, and restrictions on freedom. With the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the rise of Arab nationalism, Jews faced blackmail, threats, and arrest. Influenced by the Hebrew Immigrant’s Society’s guarantee for helping new Jewish arrivals, Sephardic Jews flocked to America for its contested golden opportunity.

Sephardic Couple in Traditional Sarajevo Clothing

Founded in 1934 to serve the Iraqi Jewish community of New York City, the Iraqi Aid Society aimed “to promote good will and to cement bonds of friendship among its members.” Although the Iraqi Aid Society assisted in improving moral and social conditions of the community, it did not conduct organized religious services. Instead, community members joined existing synagogues, existing congregations, or met in the homes of community members. In 1940, a member of the Iraqi Aid Society died and his distraught family desperately tried to find a Jewish cemetery that would take him. In order to prevent this from ever happening to another family of the community, the Iraqi Aid Society established a cemetery of its own in 1945. In 1954, the Iraqi Aid Society became the “American Aid Society” after merging with another Iraqi Jewish community in New York City, the “Nadi.” In the 1970s, the Iraqi Jewish community established its own synagogue and Jewish Center through the A.A. Society, Inc because new arrivals did not feel at home in available houses of worship. Purchased in Queens in 1983, the small Iraqi synagogue had previously served the Afghani Jewish community. More than 95% of its members were of Iraqi descent. Here, the Iraqi Jewish community stressed the importance of Jewish learning, education, and religious observances.

Afghani Jewish Family

The largest concentration of Afghanis Jews in the world, outside of Israel, is in New York City. In 2001, 1,000 Afgani Jews (200 families) resided in NYC. Until the late 1960s, the ruling government tolerated Afghani Jews. Still, they were not allowed to immigrate until King Muhammad Zahir lifted restrictions. Taking advantage of this newfound opportunity some left for Israel while others left for New York City. In fact, by the 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan, only 300 Jews remained. Afghani Jews settled in Flushing, Forest Hills, and Jamaica, Queens. The only Afghan Jewish synagogue in America is the Congregation Anshei Shalom in Queens founded in 1978 and boasts members from North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Afghani Jewish second and third generations in NYC are college educated. The older generation has an occupation niche in importing precious gems. The community is closely knit and apolitical but still committed to the U.S.

Syrian Jewish Refugees in NYC

The Syrian Jewish community, or Sys, numbers a total of 75,000 people and is still growing strong. They live in a self-created entrepreneurial empire whose sources of wealth span from Coney Island to Shanghai. The wealthiest live in multimillion-dollar mansions in Gravesend, Brooklyn and have their own synagogue in China. In the early 1990s, President Hafez Assad of Syria allowed the remaining 6,000 Jews to leave under the condition that they would not go to Israel. Instead, these Syrian Jews went to Brooklyn. When Syrian Jews first arrived in New York City at the beginning of the 20th Century, they faced prejudice from the European Jews dominating the Lower Side. Ashkenazi Jews referred to these Sephardic Jews as Arabische Yidden, or Arab Jews. Similar to both the situations of the first Soviet Jewish arrivals and the Bukharians, some openly doubted if the Syrian Jews were Jews at all. SY females do not have much opportunity; they are supposed to stay at home. Although the community has its downsides, it is extremely close-knit. It extends support and charity to all its members. The community spends $100 million on charity annually. Members are extremely social. Weddings with 1,000 guests are common. Grown children live within walking distance to their parents. The Syrian community is known to be very wealthy. Fifty families are considered “very successful.” 20 – 30% of the community are considered upper middle class. However, 1/3 of the community lives at twice the poverty level.

Jerry Seinfeld: A Syrian Jewish New Yorker

Jewish Economy

In the name of American capitalism, 75% of Soviet Jews hoped to open their own businesses. In the late 1970s, this meant many Soviet grocery stores. In order to feed their family in Soviet Russia, one had to wait on line for hours just to attain the bare essentials. America’s grocery stores offered widespread choices. Overwhelmed, Soviet Jews circulated aisle after aisle, brand after brand, not knowing how to choose which products to purchase. Soviet Jews also opened restaurants, conjuring memories of their homeland with spices. In Soviet Russia, it was dangerous for Jews to meet in public groups and the only safe meeting place was in restaurants. Restaurants continued to mean a great deal to Soviet Jewish families in New York City.
Even so, the stereotype that “all Jews are well-off” cannot be more wrong. Although some Russian-speaking Jews have done well economically in technology and finance, most have not. In 2011, 69% of these Jews earned less than $50,000 a year. Lower than the national average, the poverty rate among the elderly is as high as 73%. Many receive public assistance: one third are on food stamps, Social Security, and/or Medicare.

The Many Options of Manischewitz

Sephardic Jews, on the other hand, tend to be wealthier. The Syrian Jews had been merchants for generations; however, in America they began as peddlers. They opened stores in Manhattan. Soon, they realized they needed to speak proper English and understand American customs for business transactions. To learn the way of the New World, SY children attended public school. There, they formed relationships with other children including gentiles. This led to intermarriages. Some Christian partners even converted to Judaism.

After immigrating to America, Jews faced downward occupational mobility. They arrived without English skills; their professional credentials were rarely accepted. Between 1987 and 1900, 15% of Soviet Jews had PhDs in science and engineering. U.S. universities and corporations snagged only the best. Often, Soviet Jews were turned down for lower level positions because they were considered “over-qualified” to their chagrin. Less than one third found jobs in their chosen profession; others resorted to clerical and secretarial positions. Women, once dreaming of their own success, gave up on their own professional aspirations and focused on their children’s instead. Panning out to plan, most Russian speaking Jews attend college often in the City University of New York particularly Brooklyn and Baruch College.

Traditions: An Examination of Language and Intermarriage

Certain traditions from Jews’ “old country” are dying. Only used by the older population, Judeo-Spanish is declining. Adapting to the American way of life, would-be Judeo-Spanish speakers adopt English instead. The majority of Ashkenazi New York City Jews are prejudiced against the non-Yiddish speaking, non-Eastern European culture of the Judeo-Spanish. Furthermore, Judeo-Spanish also has unfavorable associations as “incorrect Spanish.” Sephardim study “correct Spanish” in school and adopt this form instead. Today, intermarriage between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews are quite common now. Children from these marriages speak English. Still, in order to preserve the language for as long as possible, some synagogues in the tri-state area hold services in Judeo-Spanish.

Judeo-Spanish Wedding

The Jewish community has not always accepted intermarriage, even between Sephardic and Ashkenazi who share the same religion. In 1964, Look Magazine published the article “The Vanishing American Jew,” including many testimonies of sociologists. In the 1960s, sociologists were prominent in the American Jewish as central authorities on Jewish life especially on intermarriage. Jewish communal organizations hired sociologists on boards; some rabbis became sociologists. Sociologists influenced how Jewish leaders viewed marriage. Some believed in the maintenance of Jewish purity while others predicted full absorption. After World War I, more sociologists and Jewish leaders took the middle ground. In 1921, Julius Drachseri asserted that intermarriage, and thus the melting pot phenomenon, was inevitable. In the wake of the marriage crisis of the 1920s and 1930s, sociologists asserted that marriages with one’s “own kind” worked best. Stability of society depended on good marriages. In the 1930s, University of Chicago sociologist Ernest Bugess surveyed 500 couples. The more characteristics the couple shared, the more likely their marriage would be successful. Most believed this meant religion. However, in 1937, NYU sociologists asserted that this meant more than just religion – it meant values, education levels, and class. In the 1940s, religion was protected as central in American life by sociologists, politicians, and clergy. In 1944, sociologist Ruby Jo Reeves Kennedy proposed the triple melting pot theory surrounding Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish groups. Hoping to create an ongoing social reality, rabbis preached against intermarriage. Articles appeared in Time, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, and the New York Times warning against intermarriage in order to regulate marriage, uphold religion, and raise children. However, as rabbis began to fully support the work of sociologists, more and more sociologists began to question the sociological integrity of religion in America. This was reflected in society as studies in the 1950s and 1960s showed a rise in Jewish intermarriages. In 1973, the American Year Book published that integration over the past decade was higher than in any other period before. Although it was meant only to offer a description of Jewish patterns, sociology served as a prescriptive force in Jewish life especially in regards to intermarriage.

Rembrandt: “The Jewish Bride”

Still, some Jewish communities in New York City spit on intermarriage. Take Syrian Jews for example. In Brooklyn 1935, five Syrian rabbis issued The Edict “to preserve the age-old Syrian Jewish community in the New World.” The Edict of 1936 sought to prevent intermarriages. In 1946, the edict was amended to include that rabbis would not perform religious ceremonies for un-kosher couples. Interfaith couples would be ostracized from the community and could not be buried in the community’s cemetery. The Edict, lacking teeth of its own, required the backing of the entire community to work. The Edict makes no exceptions. In fact, the granddaughter of the chief rabbi was excommunicated and has not spoken to her family for twenty-five years. Although this Edict may seem harsh, the Syrian community to this day accepts it as gospel.

Jewish Community: Synagogues and JCC

Synagogues, Jewish Community centers, and other Jewish organizations strengthen the Jewish community and bring together people of many backgrounds. Memberships in multiple Jewish organizations are as common as membership in only one. Income, demographic factors, education, and marital status influence membership. Membership is also directly connected to denominational identity, philanthropy, volunteerism, Jewishness, travel to Israel, social networks, and Jewish educational background. More than half of NYC Jews are associated with a Jewish organization. Members are more likely to volunteer, donate money, and identify as Jews. Both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews take pride in their community centers and synagogues.

Eldrige Synagogue

Specifically, Jewish Community Centers (JCC) celebrates the diversity and creativity of New York Jews. Embracing the opportunity of America, the JCC still remembers the traditions of the “old country.” Among New York City American Jews, 19% are over 65. The JCC works to increase the economic and social wellbeing of the community treating illness, special needs, disabilities, abuse, and trauma. The JCC is also intent on increasing the longevity and the expansion of the senior population living healthy, active lives. In the U.S., 12% of the population is over 65 years of age.

Politics

In 1962, Are Stark became the first Jewish Borough President of Brooklyn. There has been some stipulation on who was actually the first Jewish mayor. Elected in 1934, Mayor LaGuardia’s mother was Jewish but LaGuardia himself was not a practicing Jew. Elected in 1973, Mayor Beche was New York City’s first practicing Jewish mayor. In 1998, Jewish Chuck Schumer became senator of NY. In 1993, Ruth Bater Ginsburg from East Midwood, Brooklyn became the first Jewish woman ever appointed Justice of the Supreme Court. Although Russian-speaking Jews are registered as democrats, they are oftentimes considered swing voters. Some immigrants in Brooklyn and Queens identify as Republicans because of their concern for and strong connection to Israel.  Because of an aversion to being recorded on government registries, Sephardic Jews do not usually vote. Although most Sephardic Jews are Democrats, they often vote Republican because they are free traders and pro Israel and security.

Conclusion

Coming from homelands where they were persecuted for their beliefs, Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews were finally free to practice their religion in peace. They built close-knit communities, reminding each other of all good in the Old World. Still, both groups had difficulty in assimilating to American culture especially in terms of intermarriage and learning English. Now, maintain their traditions and embracing the opportunity in America, both groups call New York City their home.

Citations

Chafets, Zev. “The Sy Empire.” October 14, 2007. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/magazine/14syrians-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Hoffman, Allison. “Sephardic Jews Take Manhattan.” December 18, 2012. Tablet: A New Read on Jewish Life. http://tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/119491/sephardic-jews-take-manhattan.

Karmen, Andrew. November 1, 2006. “The Religion of New York City Jews from the Soviet Union.” Pp. 11 – 53 in New York Murder Mystery: The True Story Behind the Crime Crash of the 1990s.

Levitt, Rabbi Joy D. January 1, 2010. “The Questions That Challenge Us and the Community That Binds Us: The JCC in Manhattan and UJA-Federation.” Journal of Jewish Communal Service.

Lipman, Steve. “Sephardic Wave Rolling Into Manhattan.” June, 25, 2014. The Jewish Week. http://www.thejewishweek.com/special-sections/sephardim-new-york/sephardic-wave-rolling-manhattan.

Malinowski, Arlene. January 1983. “Judeo-Spanish Language-Maintenance Efforts in the United States.” Pp. 137 – 151 in International Journal of the Sociology of Language.

Orleck, Annelise. “Soviet Jews: The Continuing Russification of Jewish New York.” Pp. 90 – 120 in One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. May 1, 2007. “Major Threats and Opportunities for the Federation Agenda: Demographic and Social Welfare Trends of Key Importance for the Jewish Community.” Social Work Theorem.

Schorsch, Jonathan. January 1, 2007. “Disappearing Origins: Sephardic Autobiography Today.” Pp. 82 – 124. Prooftexts.

Sheskin, Ira. June 1, 2007. “Synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and Other Jewish Organizations, Who Joins, Who Doesn’t?” Journal of Jewish Communal Service.

Shohet, Maurice. March 30, 1998. “Iraqi Jews in the USA.” Congregation Bene Naharim. http://www.iraqijews.org/usa.html.

Zollman, Joellyn. “Jewish Immigration To America: Three Waves.” My Jewish Learning. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-immigration-to-america-three-waves/single-page/.

“Afghani Jews in the New York Metro Area.” June 2007. All Peoples Initiative. http://www.bcnychurchplanting.org/uploaded_files/Afghani%20Jews%20Profile.pdf.

By the 1990s, the New York City borough of Queens had become the most ethnically diverse county in the United States (Foner 2001). Jackson Heights, located in northern Queens, over the past twenty-five years has become “one of the Nation’s most ethnically mixed neighborhoods” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). Jackson Heights is a middle-class neighborhood with more than one-half of its population being foreign born. The neighborhood was originally envisioned to be a community for white, nonimmigrant Protestants. As the years progressed, the neighborhood ethically succeeded from a predominantly white population to multiethnic population. Despite the massive in-migration of Latinos and Asians, there has been no disinvestment that often accompanies racial transition. “Unlike many neighborhoods experiencing racial and ethnic change, Jackson Heights’ overall population has increased since the 1960s, resulting in rising demand that has stabilized and, in some cases, increased commercial and residential property values.” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). Jackson Heights avoided the pattern of disinvestment that usually follows when a white to non-white neighborhood transition occurs.

In order to understand Jackson Height’s ethnic population change, the geography and history of both Queens and Jackson HTS should be understood. Queens was originally a Dutch colony overseen by the Dutch West India Company in the 1620s. “At the consolidation of Greater New York in 1898, Queens County was divided into two counties, the smaller, eastern portion becoming Nassau County, most of Hempstead, and the larger, western portion becoming what is now the borough of Queens” (Miyares 2004). Transportation to Manhattan however was extremely difficult due to the limited pathways. Throughout the nineteenth century, for example, the East River ferries were the only option for people to travel to Manhattan from Queens and vice versa. The lack of a direct and easy connection between the boroughs stunted real estate speculation and development despite the fact that many Manhattanites were moving into Queens (Miyares 2004).

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However, this all changed with the start of the Queensboro Bridge’ construction. The bridge created a connection between 59th Street in Manhattan and Northern Boulevard in Long Island City and started the urbanization of Queens (Schuyler 2001). Another connection between Manhattan an Queens was created when in 1887, William Steinway, a businessmen who moved his factory form Midtown Manhattan to Astoria, financed the construction of a subway tunnel under the East River from Grand Central Station on 42nd Street. The first trains to pass through were the Number 7 trains (Miyares 2004). The improvement of public transportation and of the east-west roads along with a strong New York economy opened Queens to speculative real estate development in the early 1900s. Rapid population growth resulted from these new residential developments. Within a decade, the borough’s population doubled and later on, tripled after the development projects were established. “Of critical importance was Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities of To-morrow. The book had inspired a movement among developers, and the available open land in Queens allowed for garden cities. Jackson Heights introduced a new component to the planned garden city: the garden cooperative apartment community” (Miyares 2004).

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Jackson Heights remained rural until the late 19th century when transportation between Manhattan and Queens started. Expansion in Queens only seemed practical after the extension of transportation was made. “Jackson Heights was created by a group of real estate speculators who, in 1908, started to buy open land in the western part of the former township of Elmhurst to capitalize on the opening of the Queens Borough Bridge the following year” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). In 1909, Edward MacDougall, the most substantial real estate investor who owned Queensboro Corporation, bought a 325-acre parcel of undeveloped land. He envisioned a unified community inspired by the British planner Ebenezer Howard who supported the garden city. According to Howard, the garden city model emphasized light, space, and greenery. Because of the great communication with Manhattan, Jackson Heights was seen as the perfect place to settle by families who were looking to escape the suffocating Manhattan. “Jackson Heights was envisioned as an exclusive suburb for a native, White, middle-class fleeing a city that was not only crowded, but increasingly culturally diverse. Initially advertised as a “restricted residential community,” Jackson Heights’ early developer specifically barred both Jews and Blacks, by custom and restrictive covenants” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998).

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In 1919, this vision was becoming reality when in five of Jackson Heights’ six initial, the Queensboro Corporation introduced a cooperative ownership plan. Unlike a typical condominium arrangement, tenants owned their apartments and they actually became shareholders in the complex. “Over the years, cooperatives or “co-ops” would continue to make up a significant portion of Jackson Heights’ housing stock. This enabled residents to enjoy the financial advantages of homeownership while living in professionally managed apartment building” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). As envisioned by Edward MacDougall, the neighborhood was made up of mostly the middle and working-class White population. Post World War II however, Jackson Heights’ appeal diminished to White young, middle-class families. Because of a building boom occurring in the Long Island suburbs, many people from the city moved there. By the late 1960s, many feared that disinvestment would occur much like in many urban communities at that time. However, this did not occur because of two different reasons: “the post- 1965 reopening of mass immigration into New York City and the urban renovation and historic preservation movements spearheaded by middle-class Whites during the 1970s and 1980s” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998).

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Disinvestment was prevented due to the reopening of mass immigration in New York City. The massive influx of new immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia to the United States, more specifically, New York City, was caused by the Hart-Cellar Immigration Act of 1965 (Balmer 2002). Many new South American immigrants moved into Jackson Heights in the 1970s. Roosevelt Avenue “soon became the primary commercial strip for the city’s growing Colombian, Peruvian, and Ecuadorian communities. A three-block section of 74th Street became a center of south Asian business activity and soon acquired the name Little India” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). With the influx of immigrants, many businesses sprouted on Roosevelt Avenue and around 74^th Street and 37^th Avenue. South Americans and South Asians immigrants from all over the city visited these areas on weekends to shop and experience Little Colombia and Little India, feeling almost at home.

The businesses’ successes were eyed negatively by the local Whites residents. They saw the changes as “little direct benefit from the thriving businesses or even from the tax dollars they generate. Longtime residents complain about seeing their familiar community turn foreign before their very eyes. Although property values are going up, some residents speak of a declining quality of life” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). Despite the animosity among the new immigrants and the local residents, home ownership among the immigrants rises during since the 1980s. Among the immigrants, Latinos are the least likely to own homes, then Whites, and then Asians. Oddly enough, the local have become a minority in Jackson Heights while the immigrants have taken over population wise. Because of the Hart-Cellar Immigration Act of 1965, the ‘empty spaces’ in Jackson Heights were filled with South Americans and South Asians who made the neighborhood their home (Balmer 2002). “They tended to settle in neighborhoods with high vacancy rates, large, affordable apartments or houses, access to public transportation, and available storefronts in which immigrant entrepreneurs can establish businesses. Jackson Heights is one such neighborhood” (Miyares 2004). The immigrant activity, businesses, and home ownership prevented the disinvestment that normally follows a white to non-white neighborhood transition.

Although non-Whites slowly became the majority, Jackson Heights did not see a departure of the Whites. “Most panic selling of real estate was stemmed by the relative stability of co-op owners, active community organizations, preservation groups, the material and psychological investment of residents in the community, and a tight New York real estate market that made it difficult to find equivalent housing elsewhere” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). Civic organizations and political groups tried their best to make the immigrant’s transition into the neighborhood a smooth on. They did this by defining diversity as a positive amenity for the community. Till this day, leaders and residents point to “Jackson Heights’ diversity as one of the community’s finest features and one of its proudest achievements.” The Jackson Heights Beautification Group (JHBG) supports some residents’ effort to “maintain uniform building standards in the community’s recently designated historic district. Despite the official commitment of all of these groups to a policy of inclusiveness, Whites continue to dominate local political activity and civic life to a degree far out of proportion to their declining numbers” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). Whites influence the political activity much more than the non-Whites which later causes unrest and discontentment among both groups.

In midst of the fear that the immigrants would change Jackson Height’s exterior, in October 1993, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated a section of Jackson Heights as a historic district, a move designed to protect the area’s buildings from further development. “The district includes more than 200 buildings and private homes clustered between Roosevelt and 34th Avenues, from 76th to 88th Streets. Most of these structures were built by the Queensboro Corporation between 1910 and the late 1940s” (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998).

The campaign to consider landmarking a large portion of Jackson Heights was made in the 1980s. This is caused the landmark districts to levy severe restrictions on property owners. Any changes to the exterior must be approved by with a permit. Major alterations would require a commission hearing. As a result, the residents found it difficult to win political support for their landmarking effort. By the late 1980s, throughout the landmarking process, there were oppositions from “business owners and landlords who argued that conforming to landmark standards would increase repair costs and restrict a building’s use.” Business owners and landlords also saw the effort to preserve the neighborhood’s history as an urge to protect the “White” Jackson Heights which preventing a newer one from occurring since street vending and loud hawking of goods were targets of the JHBG’s activists (Kasinit, Bazzi, Doane 1998). In the efforts to preserve the landmarks’ exteriors, the Whites were symbolically holding onto the past, old Jackson Heights as much as they could. The disinvestment did not occur in Jackson Heights as one would expect. Landmarking the parts of the neighborhood was a way to keep the old sentiment alive, which are valued by the local residents enough for them not to sell. However, it is clearly evident that even if the exterior may remain the same, the immigrants who now dwell inside those garden cities are not stagnant and will be transforming.

Jackson Heights was originally created with the complete opposite vision of what it is today. Edward MacDougall and the Queensboro Corporation envisioned garden city only for the White, nonimmigrant Protestants. Ironically, they laid down the foundation for one the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the United States (Miyares 2004). With the new transportation pathways, massive immigration from Asia and South America, and with a depressed housing market, Jackson Heights began to evolve to a miniature melting pot within the original melting pot, New York City. Disinvestment did not occur because of the influx of immigrants who supported the economy and because of the Whites who wanted to preserve the history. Jackson Heights continues and will continue to reinvent itself as new groups of immigrants begin to find their home in the neighborhood.

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Balmer, Randall, “Review” of Tony Carnes and Anna Karpathakis (ed.) (2002) New York Glory: Religions

in the City. The Journal of Religion 82(4):680-681

Foner, Nancy, “Introduction: Immigrants in New York City in the New Millennium” in Nancy Foner (ed.)

(2013) One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century. Chichester, New York:

Columbia University Press.

Kasinitz, Philip, Mohamad Bazziand, and Randal Doane. 1998. “Chapter 8: Jackson Heights, New York.”

Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Neighborhoods 4(2): 161-177

Miyares, Ines M. 2004. “From Exclusionary Covenant to Ethnic Hyperdiversity in Jackson Heights,

Queens.” Geographical Review 94(4): 462-483.

Schuyler, David. 2001. “Revisiting the Urban-Rural Continuum.” Pennsylvania History 68(3):117-324

Iranian immigrants are influenced by a lot of factors in adapting to the social structure of America but two of the main factors that are unique only to Iranian immigrants are their religious beliefs and the political tension existing between the country of origin and the country of destination as they are stereotyped as violent fanatics or terrorists (Gillis, n.d.)

This essay primarily focuses on the extent to which Iranian Americans experience discrimination because of their religious beliefs and stereotypes and how this discrimination affect their self-identification in America. Another goal of this essay is to consider the socioeconomic status of Iranian Americans and compare it to other immigrant groups’ success rate in America. According to Gillis (n.d.), it is found that about one-third of the Iranian immigrants in Los Angeles reported that they were self-employed as they had brought their wealth with them, and were receiving a significant income from interest and rental properties. Another study conducted by Sabagh and Bozorgmehr reveals that there is a higher incidence of entrepreneurship among Iranian Americans than among Korean Americans who are considered as one of the immigrant groups with the highest rates of entrepreneurship in Los Angeles. For these self-employed Iranians as well as those who are in the job market, how their wealth and education serve as a buffer against their stigmatization by Americans due to the political and religious clash and how do Iranian Americans’ employment rate, occupational status and level of income compare to those of Korean immigrants and other Americans in the same job market? Lastly, this essay discusses the ethnic identity of second-generation Iranian Americans and the effect of the conflict between their embracement of Westernized culture and traditional Islamic values on their self-identification as they easily adopt the American cultural and develop a unique identity different from their parents. (Mahdi, 1998)

“Whether true or not, whether we all feel this depressed in the US or not, it is highly presumptuous, largely unattractive, and rather embarrassing. While we are this successful. Certainly it does not do what these kinds of documentaries are supposed to do, which is to once again, sell the American Dream as described by these Iranian immigrants.”

Iranians are one of the most recent immigrants in America who started arriving in 1960’s and particularly after the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. The anti-Western nature of the Islamic revolution prompted the anti-Muslim sentiments in the Western world. Later, the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 fueled this feeling of antagonism towards Muslims that worsened the lingering tensions between Iran and America and increased discrimination against Muslims producing adverse consequences for Iranians as minority groups in America. (Bozorgmehr, 2001). According to Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA, 2014), right after the 1979 hostage crisis, verbal and physical attacks on Iranian American students in colleges were reported. A number of colleges and universities set discriminatory policies and increased the tuition rate for all Iranians attending public universities. 

Most of the Discrimination is based on Political Dissent between America and Iran.

In order to avoid the incidents of abuse and discrimination, many began referring to their origin as “Persian” rather than “Iranian.” Others concealed their heritage by changing their traditional names to a more Americanized names. According to former Iranian Prime Minister Bakhtiar, “many Iranians shopped at night and otherwise avoided people to reduce the threat of physical attack.” (PAAIA, 2014)

As mentioned before, Iranians brought their wealth with them to America that encouraged “individualism as opposed to collectivism” (Bozorgmehr, 2001) as they were financially stable to start their own businesses instead of taking help from their co-ethnics and this has made Iranians become independent of each other. The lack of one single Iranian community has made them open to other groups of people that have helped them expand their businesses and become financially strong resulting in their high success rate in America.

While discussing the success rate of Iranians, it is important to mention that along with having financial stability and ethnic diversity, Iranians also have one of the highest levels of educational attainment among all immigrant groups in the US that has played a huge role in their success. They were ranked third after Asian Indians and Taiwanese, among all foreign-born groups in level of education in 1990 (Portes and Rumbaut 1996). According to a study conducted by Bozorgmehr, about half of the Iranian males hold the white-collar jobs of managers and professional specialists. In 2005, Iranian Studies Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggested that the educational level of Iranian Americans is well above the national average. In the United States Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates, it is mentioned that about 58 percent of Iranian age 25 or over have received a B.A or higher degree and with more than 27 percent of Iranian Americans over the age of 25 having a graduate degree or above, Iranian Americans are among the most highly-educated ethnic groups in the United States. (PAAIA, 2014) All these reports indicate that from inception, Iranian immigrants were in a good shape economically as they had an advantage of ethnic diversity, high education and great wealth that enabled them to become successful entrepreneurs.

Dumas has now made a reasonably successful career out of helping Americans laugh at the cute nuances of being Iranian, and the priceless amusant, of being Persian in general. Including a great non-Iranian husband she would never have met, and an accomplished English writing career!

Since Iranians and Koreans are both involved in immigrant entrepreneurship, these two groups of immigrants are often compared to one another in terms of entrepreneurial success as most of the entrepreneurs from these two immigrant groups reside together in Los Angeles. In their book “Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Business Patterns”, Min and Bozorgmehr mention that Iranians are more successful as entrepreneurs than Koreans.

One of the main reasons for this is that Iranians are not dependent on each other because of their ethnic heterogeneity as Iranian immigrants in America come from a variety of religious, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds (Mostofi, 2003) This heterogeneity results in what has been termed as “Ethnic Solidarity” by Min and Bozorgmehr. Iranian Jews, Muslims, Baha’is and Armenians are unable to form one community because of the differences in their religious beliefs and as a result, they are isolated from other Iranians. Unlike Koreans, they do not isolate themselves from other Americans by just dealing with co-ethnics but they utilize their financial resources, education, English fluency and pre-migration entrepreneurial skills to spread their business among Americans and deal with customers from a variety of ethnic groups. On the other hand, Koreans limit themselves to Korean customers and suppliers only and resist learning English or dealing with white Americans, which is why they have small businesses with lower middle class people as customers. Iranians have evolved to become owners of large-scale businesses in wealthy white neighborhoods making more profit than Koreans. While most Koreans are segregated and reside in “Korea town” in Los Angeles, Iranians are geographically dispersed in Los Angeles County. It was found that in Los Angeles, while Persian TV programs and Persian newspapers are available, most Iranians prefer English TV programs and newspapers. In contrast, Koreans are involved in watching pure Korean TV programs made in Korea and read strictly Korean newspapers because of their resistance to learn English language. Such a business pattern of Koreans has contributed to intergroup conflicts between Koreans and minority Americans. Since most Koreans run their businesses in lower middle class neighborhoods with minority groups, particularly blacks as the suppliers and customers, they face obstacles in these dangerous neighborhoods and fall prey to exploitation by these minorities. On the other hand, Iranians run extensive businesses in white neighborhoods, and therefore they do not encounter such hostility in their entrepreneurship in any significant form.

Another rationale for Iranian immigrants’ success is their flexibility in terms of dealing with people from other ethnic groups. Iranians easily mingle with white people, adopt their lifestyle and marry with non-Iranian partners that gives them the opportunity to interact with white Americans more frequently and expand their business. Intermarriage rate is very high among Iranian Americans. It has been estimated that nearly 50 percent of Iranian Americans who married between 1995 and 2007, married non-Iranian Americans. (PAAIA, 2014) Their white spouses introduce them to non-Iranians and make them likable by white customers and suppliers for business that raises their socioeconomic status by making them financially strong. Therefore, Iranian Americans are more prosperous than Korean Americans because of their flexibility of fusing with non-Iranian Americans through intermarriages.

The following clip shows the profile of one of the prominent Iranian American, Dr. Pardis Sabeti who is considered one of the successful Iranian immigrants in America.

When Iranian Americans’ average level of income is estimated, it is found to be much higher than that of other immigrant groups in America. For instance, in 2013 National Public Opinion Survey of Iranian American commissioned by PAAIA, it was found that about 54 percent Iranians have an annual income of $60,000 or more whereas in Census Bureau of 2011, it was found that only 42 percent of Americans have an annual income of $60,000 or more. The 2009-2011 American Community Survey reported that the average median household income of Iranians is $61,463, Korean Americans have an average median household income of $53,840 and Americans have an average median household income of only $47,275. The wealthy Iranian Americans making about $100,000 or more per year was found to make up 32 percent of Iranian population in America whereas only about 21 percent of Americans were reported to make $100,000 or more. These figures from the survey show that Iranian adaptation to American society has been a huge success as they have come a long way from being refugees and asylum seekers from the Islamic Revolution in the US to being millionaires and highly educated group of people in America.

As years have passed by since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the second generation of Iranian Americans has reached their youth and it is found that their pattern of adaptation to American society is very different than that of their parents. While their Iran-born parents put great emphasis on retaining their ethnic, cultural and religious identity, American-born second generation Iranian Americans do not try as enthusiastically to adopt their parental culture. Sociologist Ali Akbar Mahdi conducted a study to determine the perception of self-identity among second generation Iranian Americans. According to this study, it was revealed that about 17.7 percent of American-born Iranian immigrants called themselves “Iranian” while a majority of 61.6 percent identified as “Iranian American”. (Mahdi 1998: 83) Such a behavior is influenced by a number of factors including the concentration of co-ethnic population in their area of residence and engagement in ethnic-oriented activities by second generation Iranians. The second generation Iranian Americans who live in an area populated by Iranians get to interact with each other more frequently and are forced by their parents to perform religious duties, read the holy book, learn and speak Persian, discuss religion and attend Iranian festivals frequently which make them more likely to adopt their parents’ ethnic identity and embrace the cultural values. But as mentioned earlier, their diversified ethnic and occupational character, along with their high rate of mobility, has worked against a single geographical community, which has made them lose their culture easily resulting in the rapid Americanization of the second-generation Iranian immigrants.

Aside from culture, religion has also played an important role in influencing the lives of the American-born Iranians. They have been greatly overshadowed by the conflicts between their religion and American society and East and West. Just like their parents, the second-generation Iranian Americans, particularly the Muslims, have shown to distance themselves from their religion to lessen the discrimination against them. It has been found that about 20 percent of Iranian Americans claimed that they don’t belong to any religion. (Mahdi, 1998). Sabagh and Bozorgmehr have shown in their study that only a small number of Iranians in Los Angeles identify themselves as Muslims due to the negative Muslim stereotypes in American Society whereas these immigrants have come from a Muslim majority country like Iran with 98 percent of Muslim population. This gives an estimate of the huge number of Iranian Muslim immigrants who conceal their religion to avoid discrimination.

This conflict between Islamic values and American lifestyle has not only changed second-generation Iranian Americans’ self-identity but it has also affected their life with their parents. While Islam preaches to stay with parents even after getting married, forbids drinking or clubbing, sanctions to wear hijab (veil) for girls and orders to offer prayers five times a day, American society encourages exactly the opposite.

Living life in such a contradiction becomes a frustration for second generation Iranian Americans that distances them from their parents’ idealized culture and values. While most second-generation Iranian Americans have lost their culture and religion, there are still a few of them who have been persuaded by their parents to preserve the Iranian culture and this passion for maintaining their parental culture has resulted in ‘reverse assimilation.” Some younger Iranian Americans have re-embraced their heritage and developed stronger bonds with Iranian American communities by interacting and even marrying to their Iranian relatives, learning Persian language, staying with their parents even after getting married, and compiling their memories and experiences by writing a book or memoir such as Firoozeh Dumas’s Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America. (PAAIA, 2014).

Overall it can be argued that while some second generation Iranian Americans have preserved their cultural heritage, some of them have been unable to do so because of the interaction deficit with fellow Iranians and contradiction of the teachings of Islam and American culture. Although Iranian Americans do express a strong desire of the preservation of their cultural heritage, they show no significant resistance to assimilating forces of the host society in a strive to avoid discrimination against them. Most of them tend to be successful entrepreneurs because of their wealth, high education and interaction with wealthy white Americans which has produced a unique individualized and segmented notion of identity among them, gradually inclining them towards becoming a completely Americanized individual.

Works Cited

Gillis, Mary. n.d. “Iranian americans.” Countries and their Cultures, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2015 (http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Iranian-Americans.html)

Mahdi, Ali Akbar. 1998. “Ethnic Identity among Second-Generation Iranians in the United States.” Iranian Studies 31(1): 77-95

Bozorgmehr, Mehdi. 2001. “No Solidarity: Iranians in the US” The Iranians, May 2.

Emami, Jessica. 2014. Iranian Americans: Immigration and Assimilation. Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans. Retrieved May 1, 2015 (http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/pdfs/iranian-americans—immigration-and-assimilation.pdf)

Abdi, Jamal. 2012. “Sanctions at the Genius Bar.” The New York Times, July 11.

Mostofi, Nilou. 2003. “Who We Are: The Perplexity of Iranian-American Identity.” The Sociological Quarterly 44(4): 681-703. Retrieved May 1, 2015 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/4120728)

Sabagh, George and Bozorgmehr, Mehdi. 1994. “Patterns of Ethno-Religiosity among Iranian Muslims in Los Angeles.” in Muslim Communities in North America, edited by Y. Haddad and J. Smith. Albany: SUNY Press.

Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Ruben G. 1996. Immigrant America: A Portrait. University of California Press.

Min, Pyong Gap and Bozorgmehr, Mehdi. 2000. “Immigrant Enterprenuship and Business Patterns: A Comparison of Koreans and Iranians in Los Angeles.” International Migration Review 34(3): 707-739.

Seacrest, Ryan. 2012-present. “Shahs of Sunset.” Bravo TV. Beverly Hills, CA.

Bozorgmehr, Mehdi. 1998. “From Iranian Studies to Studies of Iranians in the United States.” Iranian Studies 31(1): 5-30.

Hoffman, Diane M. 1989. “Language and Culture Acquisition among Iranians in the United States.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly 20(2): 118-132.

Introduction

As the nation of immigrants, the United States has a number of Asian Americans. Asian Americans were originated from their ancestors who immigrated to the America recently or in earlier time. As Korean and Japanese immigrants have settled down as one of the most predominant Asian Americans in the United States, the comparison between two ethnic groups became well known. Because of the close location of two nations, they have shared similar culture and had gone through war, political contact, and cultural exchange. Despite of the similarity, the two nations have their unique culture, language, and ethnicity; those distinctive features of two nations are also shown in their immigrants’ society.

History of Japanese and Koreans in America and New York City

Surprisingly, the two ethnic groups (Japanese and Koreans) started their history in the America with the same reason. In 1835, as the American settlers owned the sugar plantation in Hawaii, they needed many workers to plant and cultivate the sugar plantation. After Chinese laborers were banned by the Chinese Exclusion Act and left from the plantation in search of other jobs, both Koreans and Japanese were recruited from their homeland (Easton and Ellington). Koreans and Japanese replaced laborers because they were known as diligent workers and the cost of labor was very cheap. Because those workers were almost young people, they brought their bribes from their homelands and those bribes were more educated (Yu). Those bribes were more educated and fluent in English because they knew that they could not be survived in the foreign country if they did not learn English. They became the first immigrant families as they settled down. After this massive immigration, these two ethnic groups were restricted to immigrate to the America by a series of laws and acts; however, after those restrictions were relaxed, Koreans and Japanese immigrants became dominant Asian immigrant groups in the United States (Easton and Ellington).

 

Japanese immigrants began their history in New York City in 1876 as Japanese businessmen settled down in NYC and established companies. Since the first immigration, Japanese immigrants had had hardship to obtain visas to live in America (less than 5000 Japanese people had lived in New York State until the 1960s). After those limits became loosened, Japanese immigrants started to spread out to choose their homes and most of Japanese in New York State are clustered in Queens, Manhattan, and Westchester County as other ethnic groups have done. Although they are clustered in some areas, Japanese immigrants are more “distributed thinly and without a focal point” (“Japanese in New York City”). According to the census of 2010, 20,000 Japanese lived in New York City (1300 in Astoria, Queens and 1100 in Yorkville, Manhattan and 5000 in Westchester County) (“Japanese in New York City”). There are fewer amounts of Japanese immigrants in New York State compared to other ethnic groups because most of Japanese immigrants stay in West side of the America. According to the census of 1990, 723,000 out of 850,000 out of Japanese Americans lived in the West (Easton and Ellington). Japanese immigrants have mostly settled down in West side especially in California, While Korean immigrants have settle down more evenly in east side and west side. Japanese Americans more preferred to stay in accustomed places where their ethnic groups have settled down, while Korean Americans more preferred to pioneer the way to a new area.

Unlike Japanese group, massive Korean immigrants have settled in New York State although California has the most Korean immigrants. Also, Koreans are more clustered in New York State than Japanese group have done. Unlike Japanese, Korean immigrants have more various reasons to come to America related to historical, educational, and sociological reasons. Those reasons will be introduced in the next paragraphs. According to the census of 2010, there were over 100,000 Koreans in New York City (Foner 2001) and they have settled mostly in Queens, Manhattan and Nassau County on Long Island (over 64000 in Queens, 22000 in Manhattan, and 11000 in Nassau County) (“Korean Americans in New York City” and Foner 2001). Queens is the place where most Koreans have settled; however, they have more tended to move to Nassau County because of better school districts and better quality of life in there (Foner 2001). This tendency is connected with the reason that Korean immigrants come to the America (one of the major reasons of immigration is for better education for their children and liberation from the competition for getting in the best colleges in Korea). With the growth of amounts, “Korean Americans became the fifth largest Asian group in the United States” (Foner 2001, 151).

*This is a table based on the data on the paragraphs.

Korean Immigrants Came In More Prosperous Times

Korean immigrants mainly came to the United States in more prosperous times. Those reasons that they immigrated to the America are more historically, educationally, and sociologically while it is more economically for Japanese immigrants.

Historically, during early 1900s, early Korean immigrants came to the United States to escape from Japanese government influence in Korea. After Russo-Japanese War, Korea had been colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945 with the victory of the war. During this period, immigrants more tended to be students attending colleges in New York State (Caruso). Students at this time were very educated; many of them were attending to ivy leagues schools to be prepared to insist against Japanese governments. Also, during 1950s Korea had the Korean War between South and North Korea and after that, Korean had been obsessed with worry about potential for the second war between South and North Korea. Since the war, every single man in Korea has to go to army to fulfill the mandatory military service for two years to be prepared for the potential war. During 1990s, wealthy parents tended to bear their sons in the United States to avoid the mandatory military service although the trick is prohibited by law in Korea now, and also after the war, high class Korean families moved to America because of the fear of potential war. Based on the research, the immigration of Koreans during the early period was from the fear of the war and from colonization by Japan; Korean immigrants considered America as a refuge that they could be liberated from the historical tragedy. Also, America has been known as “The Land of Opportunity” and huge amounts of immigrants from other countries have been immigrating to the America; this reason motivated Korean who worried about their safety in homeland to immigrate to the United States.

The another major reason for emigrate from Korea was educational. A lot of Koreans parents decided to emigrate from Korea to give their children better opportunities to get into colleges and to liberate from excessive competition (Foner 2001). High school students usually go to the private educational institution after schools and study until midnight but their effort does not guarantee for admission of high ranked colleges. For educational reason, huge amounts of international students come to study to obtain bachelor’s degree and graduate colleges degree; a number of international students who have F-1 visas become permanent residents and finally obtain American citizenship. Based on interview of international students, they prefer to stay in United States because of the higher income and accustomed diction for their major subjects. (Especially for medical fields, students are willing to memorize every vocab in another language to pass the exam for certificate again in their homelands).

While the Korean immigrants have been influenced more historically and educationally, Japanese immigrants started to enter into the America with economic reason. According to the census of 1992, more than 16000 Japanese people lived in Westchester (“Japanese in New York City”); compared to the number in 2010, it was triple before. As Japan established various companies in the America, they hired their citizens as employees. To encourage employment in America, Japanese companies gave the employees many advantages such as paying tuition for their children, higher income, and free houses; however this advantage was eliminated after many Japanese companies reduced overseas departments (“Japanese in New York City”). Although Japanese companies decreased the overseas departments, Japanese immigrants come to the America economical reason such as running stores and being employed by large enterprises.

Japanese Immigrants Had More Discrimination

            Although America is a nation of immigrants, most of newcomers may have experienced challenges including discrimination usually in labor market place (Simon 2013). People feel the massive injection of newcomers could cause alarm and the tragedy “September 11 attacks” intensified the suppression of immigration system with more limits. Not only with this general discrimination, Japanese had discriminated for long time historically in the United States.

In the past, the U.S Congress tried to ban the Japanese immigrants with a series of acts and laws. After the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882 restricted Chinese labors in sugar plantation, a number of Japanese labors as wells as students immigrated to the America; Japanese students attended colleges in California. With the advent of foreigners, American students had anti-Japanese movement. Although President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to relieve the movement, the resentment was not negotiated and “Gentlemen’s Agreement” was passed to restrict Japanese migration to the US. Consequently, Japanese students were segregated to attend Chinese schools similar to segregation of African American (Easton and Ellington). The anti-Japanese movement had occurred because of the influence of Chinese Exclusion Acts as wells as the victory of Russo-Japanese War; Japanese demanded more equality after Japan defeated Russia in Russo-Japanese War.

The discrimination against Japanese immigrants was marked mostly during World War II. After Japan attacked on Pearl Harbor with bombing, American governors suspected Japanese Americans on Western Coast of remaining loyal to their homelands. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 to evacuate Japanese from the West Coast and relocate them in internment camps on seven western states in the United States. Japanese including American-born-Japanese as well as immigrants had stayed in the segregated camps from 1942 to 1945 (Staff 2009). The discrimination against Japanese was mostly affected by the historical reason. Japanese immigrants became scapegoats for what their homeland had done. Although immigrants had left their homeland and settled down in new area, their identity and ethnicity are influenced tremendously by their ancestors and the prejudice against ethnic groups could have made in the society based on what their homeland had done.

Korean Immigrants Have Developed Ethnic Niches in New York City

As Japanese and Korean immigrants have settled down in New York, they have had unique ethnic niches; however, Korean immigrants show more diverse ethnic niches than Japanese immigrants because there are more Korean immigrants in New York City. As being mentioned previously, Japanese immigrants are more “distributed thinly and without a focal point” (“Japanese in New York City”) although they are more clustered in California. Korean immigrants have tended to get along together in Queens and Manhattan, leading to make the distinctive two Korea towns in those areas. Koreans have settled in Queens by making their own small country in Flushing and Bayside along Northern Boulevard (Foner 2001). Also, in Manhattan, K-Town is settled on Broadway and fifth avenues, which is close to Macy’s and Time Square. Although Japan town is on the street at East 41^st St between 5^th& Madison Avenues, Japan town is not officially termed unlike Korea Town is officially termed.

Korean niches are better developed than Japanese ones because Korean immigrants tend to have their own retail stores although it has been shifted to more professional occupations (Foner 2001). Based on the reason for Japanese immigrants, Japanese immigrants have more tendencies to be employed in companies, achieving more occupational assimilation with American society. Despite of different size, both immigrant groups have their unique niches so that they could have continued their ethnicity in the new land. While Korean language school is usually established in churches, Japanese language schools used to be established in churches as wells as in actual schools. Japanese government used to donate profit for nonprofit organization of language schools (“Japanese in New York City”).

Conclusion

Overall, the two different ethnic groups started their history in America together as laborers in sugar plantation and settled down predominantly in different areas. Although Japanese immigrants were discriminated more because of the historical reason, most of immigrants have gone through challenges. Two ethnic groups have continued their unique ethnicities in the US by making a fiscal point and being clustered in that boundary area.

Work Cited

Caruso, Chris. “KOREAN IMMIGRATION TO NYC”

http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/berger2010/a-taste-of-the-world/korean-immigration-to-nyc/

Easton Stanley E. Ellington Lucien. “Japanese Americans”

http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Japanese-Americans.html

“Japanese-American Relocation” 2009. A+E Newworks. Accessed April 27, 2015

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation

“Japanese in New York City” by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_in_New_York_City

“Korean Americans in New York City” by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Americans_in_New_York_City

Min, Pyong Gap. 2013. “Changes in New York in the Twenty-First Century.” In One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the 21st Century. Columbia University Press.

Yu, Eui-Young “Korean Population In The United States as Reflected In The Year 2000 U.S Census” pg 2.

Images Work Cited

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2014/11/23/turkey-talk-how-to-politely-discuss-immigration-with-your-conservative-uncle

http://umwblogs.org/wiki/index.php/History_of_Asians_in_Hawaii

Harlem is located north of Central Park in upper east Manhattan, expanding north from 110^th street to 155^th street. From the East River to the Hudson River Harlem’s location makes it susceptible to gentrification. Due to its affordable housing and location Harlem has become one of the neighborhoods in New York City most prone to gentrification.

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According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary gentrification is the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents. The first real evidence of gentrification in Harlem appeared in the 1980 census. Since then Harlem has become simply put: a target for gentrification; and media coverage on the issue has become skyrocketed.

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Early signs of Harlem gentrification came from the 1980 census, which displayed the increase of living conditions in Harlem and several other key indicators. One important indicator in the census was per capita income. In nine tracts of the Harlem district, per capita income increased more than the city’s average income. Following the trend in these districts, there was an above average rent increase implying a change in the housing market and the socioeconomic status of residents. The spatial pattern of the district also supported the clear-cut signs of gentrification. Looking at the spatial concentration of the western corridor of the district displays an increase in income specifically on 126^th street, and an escalation of high-income households. By this time the western corridor, Marcus Garvey Park and the Gateway were all communities in that displayed little signs of gentrification.

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Examining the media coverage of Harlem in the late 1980’s it is clear that gentrification is an issue. A real estate piece in the New York Times written on August 16, 1987 titled “Harlem’s Hedge Against Gentrification” by Lisa Foderaro points out that this article “It is not the first struggle over the gentrification of Harlem and it certainly won’t be the last” Confirming that this isn’t the last that will be heard about Harlem’s gentrification, and this topic shows no sign of coming to a halt anytime soon. The article discusses how the Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins turned down the plan to turnover 45 empty buildings to a white construction company, which would develop 900 units of new housing. Dinkins blatantly states that his reason for condemning the turnover plan was to prevent widespread gentrification in Harlem

Even in the early stages of gentrification in Harlem, members of the district see the obvious signs of displacement and they have detected that this doesn’t seem to be a temporary thing.

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The article continues to discuss how Harlemites plan on protecting themselves from the threat of gentrification. Some of the 95% of blacks in Central Harlem at the time planned on defending themselves against the displacement, and increased rent by owning a home. Home ownership for an increased number of black families has become somewhat of a “ hedge against an uncertain future and a way of digging in against the specter of gentrification.” At this time many gentrifiers were college-educated, affluent blacks that happened to be single, married, or married with children. All of who could afford to live in the Upper West Side, or in Battery Park City but chose to live in neighborhoods in Harlem like Hamilton Heights, Mount Morris Park, Jummel Terrace and Striver’s Row. These well-off blacks were choosing to move into some of the well-cultivated areas of Harlem. What came, as a surprise was some of the Harlemites reactions to the “displacement of poor blacks by rich blacks.” According to the article, some residents found the displacement encouraging, and some even believed that the influx of rich blacks would collectively strengthen the districts economic foundation, and even lead to an improvement of a various services such as shopping, schools and sanitation which will benefit the community.

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In the article Foderaro mentions Alexa Donaphin a woman who bought a brownstone in Harlem in 1976 on West 144^th street. Donaphin noted “’I enjoy living in a black neighborhood because sometimes it’s nice not to forget what your roots are.” Although her family and friends were appalled by her decision Donaphin was looking for the most affordable property, and she is not alone. The article also mentions specks of other whites, and Italian Americans that have appeared in the neighborhood’s cultivated communities. When one Harlem resident Mr. Brooker was asked about white gentrification in the district he noted: ”I don’t see a white takeover. There are whites buying brownstones in certain neighborhoods… but they are limited in numbers to such an extent that they in no way could be considered a gentrification threat.” This leads one to consider that the city has deliberately planned it that way to ensure that the black residents in Harlem do not feel threatened by a large amount of migrant whites. Mr. Brooker finished his statement saying:

Mr. Brooker’s statement ensures that at least some residents of Harlem at this time don’t see the influx of whites as a threat, and they understand that whites like Ms. Donaphin are coming to Harlem for the affordable housing. Overall the newspaper article has portrayed Harlem gentrification as a problem to some people who can glimpse the long-term effects on poor the residents, however it highlights the positive sides and the fact that some Harlemites don’t see the white migration as a threat, or the displacement itself for that matter. In this article the early signs of gentrification don’t display any real threat to some residents.

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Fast forwarding to 1994 Harlem still had the highest concentration of vacant city owned buildings in the city. During the late 1990’s however Harlem displayed more commercial development, which attracted the white Non-Hispanic population of Harlem. From the 1990s to the 2000s there was almost a 50 percent increase of Harlem’s Non Hispanic population. Even the average cost of a home increased to around $190,000. Most of the people migrating to Harlem were middle class blacks, and whites. During the 1990’s gentrification was soaring. In a 1995 New York Times article: Habitats/50 Hamilton Terrace; Moving From the Village to Harlem by author Tracie Rozhon discusses Peggy Hammond’s move from her hometown in Massachusetts Coast to Manhattan and finally to Hamilton Heights Harlem (Rozhon, 1995). Hammond a Caucasian lady describes what life was like living on King Street in the village. However she realized that the Village and SoHo were not what they used to be: “even though I was living in the Village, when my friends with darker skin came to see me they were not being treated in the same way that my other friends were.” Peggy had a true dislike for the elitism that was displayed in her village, a member of the Historic Districts Council she worked hard to preserve buildings however she couldn’t preserve the past attitudes of “openness and generosity.” In fact she states “it had become more of a community attitude, more about style and less about cultural esthetics.” When Hammond finally decided to move to Hamilton Heights, she felt welcomed and has a “great admiration and love for the black community”.  This article unlike the others focused on a particular individual, who talked about the reason for her move to Harlem, and the love she has for the new community she has migrated to. The article’s focal point is on the opinions and feelings of a gentrifier, and more reasons why Harlem is so attractive to “outsiders” which is something the previous article did not concentrate on entirely (Rozhon, 1995).

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Emerging in the 2000s there has been a lot more coverage on Harlem gentrification. In fact the topic New York City gentrification practically leads to Harlem, and even the views in the article are different from the previous ones. In 2005 a USA today article depicts attempts to redefine how people should view gentrification. The article: Studies: Gentrification a Boost for Everyone by Rick Hampson challenges how people think of gentrification stating that: “everyone may be wrong.” According to Lance Freeman, an assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University gentrification drives few people from their homes, in fact “Although some are forced to move by rising costs, there isn’t much more displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods than in non-gentrifying ones.” In the article which focuses on Freeman and Duke University economist Jacob Vigdor’s findings although the higher cost of living sometimes displaces poor residents, gentrification actually makes it “ less likely a poor resident would move” due to the increased living conditions which include: more jobs, safer streets, and better sanitation that encourage the poor residents to stay. However, this doesn’t seem to be what some Harlem residents believe. James Lewis a tenant organizer in Harlem said that “Everybody with money is moving into Harlem, and the people who are here are being displaced.” Surprisingly, Freeman disagrees and has concluded that a poor resident’s chance of being displaced is only 0.5% greater in a gentrifying neighborhood than in a non-gentrifying one. When asked, “So how do some neighborhoods change so dramatically?”  Freeman’s response is “succession” simply:  poor people move from their homes for several reasons whatever they may be, and are replaced by people with higher income and education. What’s more surprising is that Freeman equates poor residents leaving their homes to “whatever reason” rather than the increased rent of the houses, or other effects that an on set of gentrification may have caused. Furthermore Freeman and colleague Vigdor continue to describe the reasons why gentrification may not be as bad as it is perceived by saying “Many older neighborhoods have high turnover, whether they gentrify or not.” Vigdor claims that “over five years, about half of all urban residents move.” and several other reasons why gentrification is not to blame (Hampson, 2005).

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This article is be blatantly trying to persuade readers that gentrification is not nearly as bad as it is made out to be. For one, mainly Freeman and Vigdor’s points are presented with hardly any counterpoints, which automatically makes the reader want to forget the negatives of gentrification and say to themselves there are no real deliberate, or severe negative side effects of gentrification. Looking at the first article “Harlem’s Hedge Against Gentrification” it is astonishing to hear the clear claims that gentrification may not be a reason why of poor Harlem residents leave their homes. This article while seeming to present both sides equally at first, focused more on the reasons why gentrification is a positive expansion to the district. However, several Harlemites like the ones in the aforementioned 1987 article and those who have been displaced due to gentrification would disagree.

Entering 2014, the gentrification of Harlem is more widespread in the media than ever. One article Brokers give gentrification a push by opening a string of coffee shops in Harlem by Katherine Clarke talks about yet another group of gentrifiers in Harlem: brokers. Brokers who work for the residential firm Bohemia Realty Group have received good deals on tenants from landlords. The coffee brokers have renovated the tenants, making it “trendy with laptop-toting patrons even on weekday afternoons” however their pricey $4 lattes have caused some long time residents to complain. One local activist Rev. Nicholas Richards of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Central Harlem said “Four dollars for a latte is exorbitant in any part of the city, particularly because we’re still in a really difficult economic time,”

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Nichols continued to say that the pricy latte sends a negative message to long time residents that there are services entering their community that they cannot afford. However the coffee shop owner disagreed suggesting “that gentrification is inevitable in a desirable neighborhood that has been on the cusp of change for generations.” This article takes the focus away from white or black gentrifiers and focuses more on businesses. It serves, as a reminder that businesses are also taking advantage of Harlem’s alluring location, and the affordable housing/ tenants that are available. Like the article before it, discusses more of the advantages of gentrification, with just one negative side. Unlike the previous articles however this one focuses more on the business aspect of gentrification, and the profit that a business can make. Although the spotlight is on brokers, and businesses the author gets in depth and highlights one broker, so there is not just a general idea of what is happening, readers get an inside voice (Clarke, 2014).

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From the 1980s, gentrification however small has been evident in Harlem, which was once a district with a low standard of living and a 95% or greater black population. However in the recent years Harlem’s standard of living has increased dramatically due to the obvious gentrification. Looking at several media coverage of Harlem gentrification one can notice how the attitude of gentrification has changed throughout the years, but also how it remains the same. The article in 1987, depicted strong negatives to gentrification, but also discussed the positive effects of it, and it even directly talked about combatting gentrification unlike the articles that followed. In the next decade the article in 1995 highlighted one individual telling of her reason for migrating, and perhaps providing greater insight to why some people have gentrified Harlem. Later in 2005 the article aimed to persuade readers to reconsider how they think about the “g word.” In the last article, presented in 2014

The articles all show a different snapshot of Harlem gentrification throughout the decades. Furthermore, none of the articles specifically talked about the life of residents who have been gentrified, or what comes next from the people who are gentrified? Also, none of the aforementioned articles talk comprehensively about the negative effect of gentrification, which should certainly not be forgotten. However, this only creates room for more research. Overall throughout the years there has been increased coverage on Harlem due to gentrification. Although it started with small claims of gentrification, it ended with the advertising of gentrification and the advantages to gentrifying a community.

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Bibliography

Clarke, Katherine. “It’s a Latte Change in Harlem.” NY Daily News. N.p., 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 May 2015. <http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/latte-change-harlem-article-1.1903758>.

Foderaro, Lisa W. “Harlem’s Hedge Against Gentrification.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Aug. 1987. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/16/realestate/harlem-s-hedge-against-gentrification.html>.

Gørrild, Marie, Sharon Obialo, and Nienke Venema. “Gentrification and Displacement in Harlem: How the Harlem Community Lost Its Voice En Route to Progress.” Humanity In Action. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/79-gentrification-and-displacement-in-harlem-how-the-harlem-community-lost-its-voice-en-route-to-progress>.

Hampson, Rick. “USATODAY.com – Studies: Gentrification a Boost for Everyone.” USATODAY.com – Studies: Gentrification a Boost for Everyone. N.p., 20 Apr. 2005. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-04-19-gentrification_x.htm>.

Newman, Kathe, and Elvin Wyly. “Gentrification and Resistance in New York City.” Evaluation for Fundraising. National Housing Institute, Aug. 2005. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/142/gentrification.html>.

Rozhon, Tracie. “Habitats/50 Hamilton Terrace; Moving From the Village to Harlem.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 June 1995. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/11/realestate/habitats-50-hamilton-terrace-moving-from-the-village-to-harlem.html?pagewanted=2&gwh=46785DD098A137291B209BF56AE1991E&gwt=pay>.

Schaffer, Richard, and Neil Smith. “The Gentrifiction of Harlem?” The Gentrifiction of Harlem? 76 (1986): 347-65. JSTOR.com. Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Sept. 1986. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2562585?uid=3739832&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21106708059193>.

Images Work cited

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https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=fighting%20gentrfication&tbs=sur:fmc#tbs=sur:fmc&tbm=isch&q=Harlem+is+our+home&imgrc=zsqw9wVE3dynpM%253A%3BGBrhJrUwSd8E0M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F6%252F6a%252FOccupy_Oakland_Nov_12_2011_PM_40.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FHoward_Zinn%3B4000%3B3000

https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=coffee%20shop&tbs=sur:fc#tbs=sur:fc&tbm=isch&q=coffee+shop+design&imgrc=ifzzXIC2J5jcjM%253A%3BriLyv9NcroEgQM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Ffarm3.staticflickr.com%252F2098%252F3530456679_40ed6b4eaa_o_d.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Fjakeliefer%252F3530456679%3B1280%3B853

https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=coffee%20shop&tbs=sur:fc#tbs=sur:fc&tbm=isch&q=latte&imgrc=55Eli6rqDINlcM%253A%3BclHY1xTEue0GrM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F4%252F46%252FLatte_art_cappuccino.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcommons.wikimedia.org%252Fwiki%252FFile%253ALatte_art_cappuccino.jpg%3B1916%3B1920

Music has generally been regarded as a universal entity that is able to transcend the barriers that cultural exclusivity can create. Yet, music retains many cultural and racial connotations, especially in American society. Moreover, it is often regarded as something that is owned by one particular group. This racial gatekeeping in music has most prominently been seen in jazz and Hip-Hop. Jazz and hip-hop have similar roots in African American culture. Both genres were embodiments of black cultural movements and served as tools for social and political commentary of the African American experience. However, hip-hop is distinct from jazz and other artistic movements before it because of the ability of its artists to maintain their “turf” and stay largely African American. This occurrence brings up the question of how two genres with such similar origins could end up with two very different fates.

In order to accurately understand the origins of hip-hop, one should also know the origins of Jazz. Although the genre is said to have emerged in African American communities during the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, there is difficulty in defining exactly what jazz is. Jazz encompasses a period of over a hundred years, ranging from ragtime to the present day. Some have defined the genre as a “form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of the Negro with European music (Berendt, 371). This definition is made evident with the West African and slave folk influences that are typically present in the composition and style of jazz.

The Atlantic Slave Trade brought about a half million slaves to the United States by 1808. A majority of the slaves that were brought over were from West Africa and brought strong musical traditions with them. Even though Black Codes eventually outlawed African drumming, there are many historical accounts of musical and dance gatherings that showcased percussive slave music, particularly in the New Orleans area. Moreover, African-based rhythmic patterns were retained in the United States with the use of “body rhythms”, such as stomping and clapping.

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“Usually such music was associated with annual festivals, when the year’s crop was harvested and several days were set aside for celebration. As late as 1861, a traveler in North Carolina saw dancers dressed in costumes that included horned headdresses and cow tails and heard music provided by a sheepskin-covered “gumbo box”, apparently a frame drum; triangles and jawbones furnished the auxiliary percussion. There are quite a few [accounts] from the southeastern states and Louisiana dating from the period 1820–1850. Some of the earliest [Mississippi] Delta settlers came from the vicinity of New Orleans, where drumming was never actively discouraged for very long and homemade drums were used to accompany public dancing until the outbreak of the Civil War” (Palmer, 37).”

Although the abolition of slavery did not significantly increase the employment opportunities available for African Americans, many were able to find work in entertainment. As more black musicians became involved in minstrel shows and vaudeville, a new style of music known as ragtime began to develop. The cardinal trait of this genre of music is its syncopated, or “ragged” rhythms that are also found in jazz (Berlin).

But as the 20^th century arrived, ragtime began to abandon its earlier rigid rhythmic feelings and employing a more swing feeling. Jazz musician Louis Armstrong, aside from being a talented trumpet player, was especially well known as a pioneer in popularizing the swing technique and incorporating it into the jazz solo vocabulary. Swing is the most enduring and prominent rhythmic techniques in jazz and yet, it is very difficult to clearly define. This is largely because swing is intended to describe a feeling that a musical piece may have rather than the actual content of the piece. As the New Harvard Dictionary of Music states that swing is: “An intangible rhythmic momentum in jazz … Swing defies analysis; claims to its presence may inspire arguments.” (The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, 818)

Between 1920 and 1933, Prohibition Laws made the sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States illegal. This in turn led to the development of illicit speakeasies, which became the venues of the “Jazz Age”. Initially, Jazz was viewed as immoral because of its association with illegal activity. Moreover, members of the older generations believed that jazz threatened traditional social values and was the embodiment of the debauched values of the Roaring Twenties. Without a doubt, racism towards African Americans played a major roll in the initial hostility that society had towards jazz. Musicians such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller are often credited for developing the “big” jazz band and bringing jazz into mainstream American culture.

By the time jazz was assimilated into the American fabric, it was no longer strictly viewed as “black” music. There was a great deal of ambiguity over whether or not jazz was the embodiment of the African American experience or just the American experience. But during the 1940s, several black musicians began to distance themselves from the popular danceable jazz. Artists such as Dizzy Gillespie were pioneers in developing be bop, a new form of music that had an inherently explosive and elusive style. The fast tempos and high syncopation made it difficult to replicate and virtually impossible to dance to. Consequently, be bop was not as commercially successful as mainstream jazz.

To early be bop musicians in the 1940s, being an artist was more than just a strike against the popular swing style. They saw their musical freedom as a metaphor for the quest for the political freedom and social equality that civil rights leaders were fighting for. By creating a sound that could not easily be replicated, be bop artists created a unique and distinct identity. Essentially, be bop was their way of claiming their African American identity. Although jazz was never clearly labeled as “black” music again, the attitude of resistance that be bop artists displayed during the 1940s surely would inspire other musicians in future African American cultural movements. Gillespie makes clear in his autobiography:

Hip-hop since its infancy has been described as an outlet and a “voice” for the disenfranchised youth of low-economic areas since the culture reflected the social, economic, and political realities of their lives (Alridge & Stewart, 190). Much like the be bop artists in Jazz, hip-hop artists used music as a medium for not only expressing their racial pride, but also making political and social commentary. Although hip-hop music and culture first emerged at block parties in the Bronx during the 1970s, the roots of rapping are found in African music, particularly in traditional African call and response patterns. The griots, or storytellers of West African culture is also said to be another possible early ancestor of hip-hop (Campbell).

The mid 1980s and early 1990s have commonly been regarded as “The Golden Age” of hip-hop. This time period was characterized by its innovation and was a time “when it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre.” (Coker) A controversial subgenre of hip-hop known as gangsta rap was also born during hip-hop’s “Golden Age.” Gangsta rap essentially involved artists using rap as a medium for making commentary on the political, social, and economic injustices that they faced. The lyrics used in these pieces had a tendency to be openly confrontational and had a much edgier feel. Rappers such as Ice-T and Sister Souljah were the outspoken pioneers of this contentious subgenre. One of the most controversial gangsta rap songs at the time was Ice-T’s “Cop Killer.” The song was originally intended to speak from the viewpoint of a criminal getting revenge on racist cops. However, the song infuriated many public government officials, as well as the National Rifles Association and police advocacy groups (Philips, 1). In an LA Times interview, Ice-T suggested that the attempts to censor “Cop Killer” had racial undertones.

“Many black rappers—including Ice-T and Sister Souljah—contend that they are being unfairly singled out because their music reflects deep changes in society not being addressed anywhere else in the public forum. The white politicians, the artists complain, neither understand the music nor desire to hear what’s going on in the devastated communities that gave birth to the art form.” (Philips,1)

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The social circumstances that African Americans lived under during the 1980s certainly provide an understanding of why there was so much anger in the urban African American communities. After the election of Reagan, there were sharp budget cuts in antipoverty, job training, and affirmative action programs that aided African Americans and other non-white communities. Between 1975 and 1985, the median income of the average African American family remained stagnant. Moreover, the unemployment rate of black males rose from 12.5% in 1975 to 13.2% in 1985. On top of that, the incarceration rates of African Americans escalated from 58,000 in 1980 to 87,000 by 1985 (Stewart, 218). Much like jazz artists of the1940s, early rappers saw hip-hop as a way of contributing to the fight for social justice. By bringing completely upfront and brutally honest about the harsh realities they lived under, hip-hop artists were able to raise some level of social awareness in society. In essence, rappers on the 1980s created a sound that demanded to be listened to. Although hip-hop still receives a great deal of scrutiny today, its attitude of resistance has allowed it to resonate with all types of people. As Sister Souljah stated in a Los Angeles Times interview:

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Hip-hop and jazz share so many similarities in their histories that it is hard to understand how hip-hop has been able to maintain a largely African American artistic community. Ultimately, there is no clear cut answer for why jazz is not racially exclusive like hip-hop. The circumstances that jazz and hip-hop developed under could possibly provide some explanation for how these two genres ended up with such distinct fates. Obviously, social attitudes towards African Americans during the early 20^th century were much more hostile than during the 1980s and 1990s. Although racism towards the black community was still very much a part of society, it was certainly not as strong as the racism experienced before the Civil Rights Movements. African American artists during the Jazz Age were in a more vulnerable position than early hip-hop artists and unfortunately were easier to manipulate and exploit. Hip-hop artists were and still are in a better position to enforce racial gatekeeping in their cultural community. American attitudes towards ownership may also explain why many African American hip-hop artists fight to maintain a black identity in the genre. The idea of owning any kind of property in America is viewed as a sign of success. In a sense, the desire to own is ingrained in America’s national fabric. Hip-hop’s promotion of racial exclusivity may be a way of maintaining cultural property. Although it is unclear what the future will hold for jazz or hip-hop, it is evident that the values of that both genres represent will continue to inspire future generations to defy the norms of society.

Works Cited

• Alridge, D. P., & Stewart, J. B. (2005). INTRODUCTION: HIP HOP IN HISTORY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. Journal Of African American History, 90(3), 190

• Berlin, Edward.”Ragtime”. The Grove Music Dictionary. (2006) Oxford University Press.

• Campbell, K.E. (2005).Gettin’ our groove on: rhetoric, language, and literacy for the hip hop generation, Wayne State University Press

• Cheo H. Coker,”Slick Rick: Behind Bars”Rolling Stone, March 9, 1995

• Gerard, Charlie ” Black Music, Black Identity .” In Jazz in Black and White : Race, Culture, and Identity in the Jazz Community, Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. The African American Experience. Greenwood Publishing Group. http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc.aspx?fileID=GR6198&chapterID=GR6198­46&path=books/greenwood. (accessed May 4, 2015).

• Joachim E. Berendt. The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond. Translated by H. and B. Bredigkeit with Dan Morgenstern. 1981. Lawrence Hill Books, p. 371.

• The New Harvard Dictionary of Music(1986: 818).

• Palmer, Robert (1981: 37). Deep Blues. New York: Penguin

• Philips, Chuck (July 19, 1992).”COVER STORY : ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger blew away dozens of cops as the Terminator. But I don’t hear anybody complaining.’ : A Q & A with Ice-T about rock, race and the ‘Cop Killer’ furor”. LA Times

• Stewart, J.B. MESSAGE IN THE MUSIC: POLITICAL COMMENTARY IN BLACK POPULAR MUSIC FROM RHYTHM AND BLUES TO HIP-HOP. Journal of African American History. 90 (3). 218.

 Every year, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities gather together in late June for the Gay Pride Parade in New York City to celebrate their culture and history. During this event, the streets are covered by hundreds of rainbow flags ebbing and flowing with the motion of the breeze, and lively music is played to match the energetic ambiance of the crowd. But perhaps the most striking feature of the parade is the drag queen strutting in her six-inch stiletto heels and lace front wigs.  Usually they are most known for their playful and light-hearted performances. Because of this association with comedy, people usually forget the significant role that drag queens played for equality, most notably the iconic Stonewall riots that set the precedent for the gay liberation movement.

To fully understand the impact that drag queens had on this event, it is important to understand what conditions were like for the gay community before the Stonewall Riot. According to the documentary Before Stonewall, the American public, cherishing the optimism of ending World II, was becoming less restrictive, which allowed gays to express themselves in media, such as books like the The Occasional Man about homosexual romances, and movies that suggested gay overtones. But just as circumstances seemed brighter, a turnaround occurred in the early 1950s soon after Senator McCarthy was elected, where the country “slipped into the dark ages.”

In this period, known as the Second Red Scare, the government was viciously searching for communists. In reality, they were looking for enemies of any kind, of anything that was deviant from the traditional American values of a working husband, his stay at home wife, and their two children. Because homosexuality was out of the norm, many gays were kicked out of the State Department and the Army, as shown by the documentary. The federal government was making the suggestion that gay people were being used as spies, thus making them appear to be a danger to society. One of the laws that allowed this discrimination to happen was the Executive Order 10450, which gave them more leeway to investigate state and federal personnel for homosexual activity. Much of this stigma towards gays resonated into the later 1950s and the 1960s.

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Additionally, there were many problems that homosexuals had to face within their own daily lives. They were under constant harassment from the police to even civilians on the streets (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 59). Based on the documentary Before Stonewall, the police would use any excuse to arrest a gay person; if they only slightly talked back to the police, it would be seen as a sign of resisting arrest. The police would even use various methods, such as teaching young recruits how to pretend to be gay, as a way to expose men who are actually homosexual. But, the main victims that were usually targeted were those who resisted gender roles, which can include transgender people, transsexuals, transvestites, and also drag queens. (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 59).

Often spread throughout different media, the groups mentioned above are often intermingled, but each term actually holds quite a different meaning. Drag queens and transvestites are used only to categorize outward appearance. Transvestite is an obsolete term for a cross dresser, one who wears clothes characteristic of a different gender (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 378, 380). The style of transvestitism is understated, using unobtrusive and subdued clothing, as an attempt to blend seamlessly into the general public, and for men, pass as a “woman.” Cross-dressing is sometimes referred to as “being in drag,” but the ideal appearance and purpose of drag queens are entirely separate from transvestites (Harris). Instead, a drag queen’s outfit creates a silhouette of an over-exaggerated version of woman, a laughable hoax, as a form of comedy and performance. There are types of queens such as scare drag queens, drag queens with manly features, and street queens, who worked as prostitutes (Duberman 188).

The terms transsexual and transgender on the other hand both refer to gender identity. Transsexuals, being the older term, emerged as concept from medical communities where one faced the “disorder” of wanting to change into the opposite sex. The treatment for this was through medical methods of surgeries and/or hormones (Bullough 253). Currently, the term transsexual refers to those who want to modify their body to match their desired sex. Meanwhile, the word transgender is more of an umbrella term for those whose gender expression does not match their sex, whether or not they choose to physically alter their body (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 380).

One of the reasons as to why these groups are so fused together is that many decide to take on multiple identities. One example that stands out is Marsha P. Johnson, who was part of all of these groups. In the documentary Pay It No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson, it is seen that she took on various roles as a drag queen performing with the theatrical group Hot Peaches in New York, and at the same time she also considered herself as a transgender woman and activist, who at an early age began taking hormones. She is also one of the founders of the STAR, which stood for Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, as a way to help homeless gays, drag queens, and runaways.

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But the public did not understand these identities, and depicted them as an abnormality, a freak of nature. So they paralleled the police’s use of violence towards those who were homosexual. As described in Before the Stonewall, the thought of a gay couple normally walking down the street, wide open, was unthinkable. The goal of American society around the mid-20^th century was to drive homosexuality out of existence. To achieve this, the gay community was often ostracized and jeered at whenever they exposed their homosexual nature. If a gay couple walked down the street, they would be gawked at by straight, heterosexual men, screaming “Queer, queer!” And after they dished out their verbal abuse, the group of straight men would tend to beat up the gay couple, similar to a routine.

Moreover, drag queens faced widespread maltreatment from their surroundings, suffering at the bottom of the social hierarchy. In New York, most were forced to work as prostitutes on 42^nd Street, along with selling drugs (Gan 129). The street queens had no choice; many were kicked out of their homes as children, and homophobic and transphobic discrimination prevented them from getting jobs. They had to deal with violence from not only the customers, but also the police, who were the real enemy. Sylvia Rivera, a drag queen and close friend of Marsha P. Johnson, described her experiences: “We expected nothing better than to be treated like we were animals- and we were” (Gan 129). Drag queens were treated like dirt, left in a crowded jail just to be beaten up and raped.

The main reason why homosexuality was deemed as an abnormality and a crime was due to a pervasive notion,throughout much of the 20^th century, that homosexuality was a sickness (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 54). Psychiatrists felt that this “sickness” was caused by poor parenting of domineering mothers and/or passive and inadequate fathers. And many of them felt it was the type of disease that could be cured through certain treatments (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 52). Because of the widespread popularity of this idea, many were sent straight to the insane asylums and mental hospitals where they faced invasive and traumatic experiences of shock treatments, lobotomies, castration, and hormone therapy. This had horrible repercussions for the gay community, such that it served as a form of justification for laws against homosexual activity. One example is the Executive Order 10450 mentioned earlier. Additionally, most of the studies portray gay men as “predatory, effeminate, and emotionally unstable.”

In response to the view of homosexuality as an illness, the homophile movement was formed to disprove this notion, working toward the assimilation of gays into mainstream culture (Gibson, Alexander, and Meem 59). In order to convince the public that, besides sexuality, gays are no different compared to heterosexuals, homophile organizations required men to wear business suits and women had to wear dresses and heels, as seen in Before Stonewall during their gay rights marches. The idea was that they were protesting against the government for jobs, therefore they would have to appear employable to the government. Many accepted the idea that if one dressed properly, and didn’t draw attention, then they would be eventually accepted.

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In the 1960s, gay people were terribly concerned with this conservative image, which did not fit well with the aesthetic of drag queens. Clad in outlandish get ups and embodying an exaggerated image of a woman, drag is meant to be a parody of mainstream culture. The stylistic ideal is supposed to stand out, and scream with the vulgarity of leopard miniskirts and strapless ball gowns (Harris).  The drag costumes were in direct opposition to the image desired in the homophile movement, which was unintentionally undermining the gay’s attempt at normalcy. And in many ways, the drag queens were scrutinized within the gay community. One particular instance was showcased in Pay It No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson, where Johnson wasn’t wanted in the Gay Pride events in New York City, where the host tried to ban transvestites from the parades. There were fellow gay men that would “cast an evil eye at you and say, ‘Oh, they are giving us a bad name’.” If there was a gay pride event on television, they would always highlight the drag queens.

And the Stonewall Inn itself, a dimly lit gay bar in Greenwich Village, wasn’t actually the drag queen haven that it is usually perceived to be. Although it was one of the more congenial bars in the New York, the Stonewall Inn allowed few drag queens inside because the owners felt that gender-nonconforming people would attract attention from the police (Gan 131 ). The only way for drag queens to pass the bouncer-doormen at the inn was if they had certain connections. And at the time, drag queens were tolerated, but certainly not cherished (Duberman 191). Sylvia Rivera characterized the Stonewall Inn as primarily “a white male bar for middle- class to pick up young boys of different races” (Gan 131 ).

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On the night of June 27, 1969, the few drag queens allowed arrived to the club for different reasons. Some drag queens like Marsha P. Johnson came usually to party, while others like Sylvia came to the scene grief stricken; she was mourning the death of Judy Garland that same day (Duberman 191). But then those watching outside of the Stonewall noticed a decidedly small crowd gathered, where there was an ambience of something expectant to come. At that moment, the police suddenly pushed open the front doors and marched in. It was 1:20 A.M (Duberman 192). The police then began ordering patrons to line up to inspect them. There was a New York law that required people to wear at least three pieces of clothing deemed “appropriate” to their birth-assigned gender (Gan 131). The ones arrested were people who wore the clothes of a different gender, people without IDs, along with the employees of the bar, while everyone else would be released. The routine was that transgender and gender variant people were separated from the lesbians and the gays. According to Rivera, “Faggots over there, dykes over here, freaks over there.” She elaborated saying, “The queens and the butch dykes were the freaks.”

The raid that occurred that day was very different from the previous ones. The police presence was much larger than usual; it was carried out by eight detectives from the First Division, and the Sixth Precinct had been asked to participate only at the last possible second (Duberman 194). Additionally, the raid occurred around one A.M, which was the height of merriment. Typically, they occurred earlier around the evening time where the crowd is smaller, allowing for a quick reopening so that the gay men could go back to dancing (Duberman 193). Lastly, there was no advanced warning to the Stonewall management; they had always been tipped off by the police before a raid took place, on average once a month.

Everything up to that point was going so routinely, that the crowd was expected to disperse; instead, there was a certain kind of tension in the air (Duberman 196). There was a mixture of impulse and, as described in Before Stonewall, passion from the Civil Rights movement that influenced the emerging militancy of the gay community. The crowd started to boo the police,while others pressed against the waiting van. There are many different stories as to how the confrontation started. Some say that the explosive moment came when a “dyke dressed in men’s clothing” started to resist police attempts at placing her in the paddy wagon. One of the other theories is that drag queens incited the fight. In Pay It No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson, some witnesses believe that Johnson’s action of yelling, “I got my civil rights!” which then moved her to throw a shot glass right in the mirror, instigated the riot. It was: “The shot glass heard around the world.”

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Regardless of what actually happened, the fighting, including a bunch of incidents, were all happening simultaneously, a mass of anger. And the drag queens, without a doubt, played a significant role in the Stonewall Riots. Because the queens had often been targets of police harassment, they had fought fiercely (Gan 131).  Many of the drag queens, consisting of street youth and gender-variant people, were on the front lines of the confrontation. One bystander noticed that a cop was on his stomach, straddled by a drag queen who was “beating the hell out of him with her shoe.” Other drag queens were throwing their change at the police, while giving lots of attitude and lip, yelling phrases such as “Gay Power” (Duberman 197). Some queens dealt with painful beatings; Rivera described one drag queen who was “beaten into a bloody pulp” (Gan 132). There was a constant chase between the cops and the queens, who were escaping out of the paddy wagons and joining the fight.

Although drag queens have continued to face prejudice within and outside the gay community, they were beginning to be seen in a new light. They became the leaders of the Stonewall rebellion in New York, where for three days and nights, drag queens and their allies confronted the police. The battle became immortalized, with the help of the media sensationalizing its significance. This event is now celebrated as the epitome of gay liberation (Bullough 245, 246). Because the raid raised the political consciousness of the street queens, it also marked a political change in their and other gays’ attitudes as well.

In the wake of this historic brawl, drag was beginning to be embraced by large sectors of the gay community as the ceremonial costume of the emerging militant homosexual; The drag queen aesthetic became a symbol exemplifying the gay rights movement (Harris). With this new political empowerment, the queens took on an appearance that had more unfriendly and abrasive looks, instead of the old-fashioned lovely drag get-ups. The drag queens showed their newfound fierceness for gay liberation through predatory and menacing growls. And for them, going out in public in women’s clothing was transformed into an act of rebellion against the norm and amongst the gays, a kind of solidarity, a form of civil disobedience that celebrated the daringness of the new gay rights heroine, the warrior drag queen.

The drag queens, being a subculture within a subculture, were faced with struggles from all angles. Around the 1950s, with issues such as Second Red Scare, the American society was lead into a social regression, where homosexuals were discriminated against. Along with this, drag queens were also ostracized by the gay community because of their ostentatious clothing which was giving them a bad reputation. But through the massive impact they had in the Stonewall rebellions, the drag aesthetic was at the starting point of being embraced by the gay community, as it became a symbol of gay liberation. And as the drag queens strut down the streets during the Gay Pride Parade in New York City, which is held in late June to honor the Stonewall riots, they will walk proudly knowing the significant role they have played.

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Works Cited

Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community. Dir. Greta Schiller.

First Run Features, 1984. Film.

Bullough, Vern L., and Bonnie Bullough. Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. Philadelphia:

U of Pennsylvania, 1993. Print.

Duberman, Martin B. Stonewall. New York: Plume, 1994. Print.

Gan, Jessi. “Still at the Back of the Bus”: Sylvia Rivera’s Struggle. Centro Journal 19.

(2007): 124-139. Academic Search Complete. Web 30 April 2015.

Harris, Daniel. The Aesthetic of Drag. Salmagundi Magazine 108. (1995): 62-74. JSTOR.

Web. 29 April 2015.

Meem D., Deborah T., and Michelle Gibson. Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT            

     Studies. Second ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2014. Print.

Pay It No Mind – The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson. Dir. Michael Kasino. Perf.

Marsha P. Johnson. Frameline, 2012. Film.

The term “gentrification” is synonymous with renovation, increased land value, capital movement, and all aspects of culture change. However, in the case of Harlem, why did it take nearly a whole century for the neighborhood to gentrify when its potential for an upscale neighborhood was being discovered at the turn of the 20^th century.

According to two different theories of gentrification, there are two components that can prompt gentrification to occur. According to Niel’s Smith Rent- Gap theory, there needs to be a difference between actual land value and potential change in the land value (Smith, 1987). Focusing on Harlem specifically, the building of many brownstones and apartments by landlords was indicative of this theory. Many of these landlords were looking to make an profit out of people moving into the neighborhood, because the land value increases as it becomes more desirable, leading to gentrification.

The second theory was proposed by David Ley, which described the social phenomenon that drives the demographics of the city to change. In the case of Harlem, it were the African Americans that was migrating away from the south looking for opportunities and African Americans currently living in the city that displaced the white minority in Harlem, otherwise term as the “white Flight”. In addition, Harlem was undergoing a cultural renaissance where there was an extreme outpouring of creative African-American expression through literature, art, theater, photography, and much more.

Theoretically, Harlem could have gentrified itself in the early 20^th century for both of conditions for gentrification was fulfilled. There was a change in demographics, potential for growth and cultural attraction. All these changes were combined into a major transitional era for Harlem in the 1920s.

The renewal of African American culture beginning in the 1920s, also termed as the “Harlem Renaissance” held great potential for gentrification. It was the time period where the first of many African-American writers, composers, and artists, achieved mainstream success, while successfully performing the ideal the African-American are capable of “high culture”.

Unfortunately, the timing of the Harlem Renaissance coincide with other major periods of change such as the Great Migration, the Roaring Twenties and subsequently The Great Depression and World War I. In addition, there was a perpetuation of racist behavior towards the African Americans. As a result, the potential of the renaissance to bring about gentrification was overshadowed by the racism and the effects of major events such as the depression and the war.

During the Great Migration, large numbers of poor African Americans began moving away from the rural south to the urban north because there was more opportunities. However, even in the north, racial discrimination was rampant. Strict housing laws prohibited African Americans from living in places where the white dominated. In fact, they were confined to areas such as Lower East Side and Upper West Side. Eventually, as white citizens moved in, the black population was forced to relocated. (Trotter, 2002)

At the same time, a lot of housing was constructed in Harlem because of the speculation that the railroads being built there would bring affluent and young people to live in Harlem. Many landlords and real estate management went bankrupt when the speculation did not come true, which also resulted in a lot of vacant apartments. As a economic solution to their problems, the landlords resorted to opening up their buildings to the African-Americans.

With limited options in housing, droves of African-American citizens migrated to the Harlem Neighborhood. By the late 1910s, it contains the highest concentration of African-American citizens in the city or approximately sixty to seventy percent of the black citizens that lived in New York City (Osofsky, 1965).

Racism of this era also plays a big part in the lack of gentrification. Many whites believe that having African-Americans around their property would devalue the land. As a result, as more people move into Harlem, the less valuable the neighborhood became. In addition, landlords exploited black citizens because African – Americans have limited housing options. For example, the rent double in seven years in the 1920s and in comparison, black citizens pays more for three, five and seven room apartments than the typical New Yorker in 1927. It was one of the priciest neighborhoods to live in for one of the most exploited and poorest minorities (Osofsky, 1965).

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In addition, many banks and mortgage companies used process of redlining was used. Initially, this process was used to deny mortgages to neighborhoods containing people with certain religion and race. This was extended into financial service and public amenities. Consequently, the neighborhood fell further into poverty due to high rent and lack of city and state economic support (Taylor, 2002).

Prior to the depression, many African Americans were either hired for menial labor or not at all. As the Great Depression hits the United States, unemployment rates for African American also skyrocketed. In his review, Meyer (1993) wrote that “Every job became a white man’s job”. This description was apt for many African Americans were replaced by white man or white woman. For example, white women were hired to replace African American in hat and coats checks in restaurants. African American’s unemployment rates skyrocketed, the salaries of skilled workers and household income decreased by almost fifty percent by the 1930s. (Meyer, 1993).

Even after the war ended, much attention of the African-American rights turn into the Civil Right Movement. This movement primarily focuses on desegregation and civil rights such as voting and the equal rights to an education. Both of these ideals did not really helped Harlem in any. That is because Harlem is nearly homogeneous in terms of race. About two-thirds of the population are African-Americans and this population has remain stagnated throughout the war. The people were fighting for improvements but mostly for an inclusion into the mainstream aspect of white social, political and economic life (Taylor, 1974). The African American population did receive any immediate benefits in terms of housing and amenities, so the civil rights movement did not bring enough attention to the conditions of Harlem. African American leaders were not able to address the poverty and crime that deterred gentrifiers from moving into Harlem.

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In comparison, Harlem in the last decade till now has been undergoing an economic transformation term as the “New Harlem Renaissance”. The causes of this new renaissance is unclear, but the economic growth can be partially attributed to the rental units that are widely available. For example, the “brownstones” built in the late 1800s are being bought up and restored for commercial purposes. This restoration effort results in a cultural and economic benefit for the neighborhood itself (Rozhon, 1997).

New zoning laws placed on Harlem by the city helped accelerated the speed of renovation. For example, the City Council allowed high-rise office towers and about two thousand new condominiums to be built around 125^th street. Also, around East River Plaza in East Harlem, a three hundred million shopping mall is being constructed. Right around the block, condominiums worth one million dollars are being constructed (Williams, 2008). These constructions creates convenience and access for those who want to move into Harlem. These condominiums and shopping mall would attract a new demographics to Harlem.

In addition, the reputation of Harlem as begun to improve. Between the late 1990s to the early 2000s, crime rate has dropped significantly. The chance of murder have dropped nearly seventy two percent and many of the open drug dealing on the streets are being busted or forced behind closed doors. (BBC, 2000). In a crime statistic report by the 30^th precinct which governs West Harlem, crime has decreased nearly thirty percent overall in comparison to the early 2000s.

The cultural attraction of Harlem has been preserved through its years of poverty. Due to lack economic means, many of the brownstones and cultural landmarks were left empty until recent years. In comparisons to richer neighborhoods, where renovations occur frequently, poorer neighborhoods tend to be more readily able to preserve its building rather than rebuilt them completely. As certain areas in Harlem became legal landmarks, the exterior of the buildings cannot be changed, this preserves a time period of New York City history and becomes part of the appeals that attracts preservationist.

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Coupled with its proximity to the rest of Manhattan, it has begun to attract many young and skilled workers looking for a resident near the other part of Manhattan. (Samuelsson, 2012).According to the Manhattan Empowerment Zone, Harlem has the highest potential for housing, population growth and increased household income as compared to the rest of Manhattan.

The economic expansion of Harlem in recent years is not all necessarily positive. Many original residents feels like they are being priced out of their own homes. For example, between 2000 and 2005, about 30,000 African-Americans moved out of Harlem while 20,000 white citizens moved into the neighborhood. This can be partially due to the fact that renovated apartments and the “brownstones” now cost about one to four million apiece and is typically only affordable for wealthy New Yorkers. In addition, housing prices have soared more than one hundred percent in the last decade. Rent stabilized apartments go for five to eight hundred a month, while rent in market rate apartments are about four thousand a month (Gørrild, Obialo, and Venema).

The rise in housing prices proves to be disastrous for many of the original residents. These residents whom have lived in Harlem for many years depend on a fixed income like social security benefits, social security disability, income from the veteran Administration, and other forms of public assistance such as food stamp and public housing. As a result, these families and older citizens are being vacated as they cannot afford rent. (Gørrild et al).

In terms of cultural change, the economic gentrification has some benefits, but also some antagonistic effects. For example, the Lenox Lounge is a jazz club that was once known for legendary jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. The main patrons of this lounge now are mostly white tourists, which means that the prices are pricier. It brings economic benefits to the area. However, increased prices for performing in an upscale location would deterred many musicians who does not have the economic means to do so. This causes a natural selection among the musical culture for bands that have a mainstream appeal would be able to rent and perform at upscale locations.

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Other changes to Harlem culture can be seen through the activities held by the Apollo Theater. Apollo Theater, located on 125^th street, is the epitome of the African-American music renewal. As Rothstein (2011) wrote, “The Apollo has also been one of the few institutions in which black American musical culture was consistently nurtured over the course of 75 years.” All types of music genres were performed on stage –dance, swing, jazz, rock n’ roll, soul, hip-hop are some of the few.

In addition, it was a stepping-stone for many black musicians, dancers, and comedians in the 1930s to the 1960s. For example, some of the artists include Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Jackson Five, Redd Foxx and Jackie “Moms” Mabley were some of the notable people that advanced their career in the Apollo Theater. Overall, the Apollo Theater represented opportunity and African-American classics (Kelly, 2011).

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However, due to the inflation occurring on Harlem, the upkeep of Apollo Theater as a neighborhood and local attraction became to decline. It needed to attract a greater, more widespread appeal which means adopting shows that has a more mainstream appeal or by increasing the prices of the ticket.

Another aspect of change in culture is the “soul food” that Harlem is known for. For example, Harlem used to be dominate by small family-run diners that serve soul food, which is known for its savory flavor, but can be fatty and unhealthy. However, as stated by Williams (2008) in his article, such diners are being outcompeted by contemporary restaurants, which have better atmosphere and healthier options. In addition, contemporary restaurants charged almost more than ten dollars for a single meal, which is unaffordable by the original residents (Williams, 2008). The benefits of gentrification seen here is that restaurants are better upkeep and the food is healthier overall. However, this transition occurs at the risk of losing authenticity.

Overall the gentrification that should have happen with concordance with the Harlem Renaissance was postponed due to numerous reason. Some of these include the systematic racism and the timing of the renaissance. However, the gentrification of Harlem is occurring now the occurrence of a new economic transitions. As a result, the gentrification of Harlem would bring about a new conversion of economic and African American culture; this gentrification brings about controversial opinions.

Beveridge, Andrew. “Harlem’s Shifting Population.” Gotham Gazette 27 Aug. 2008. Print.

Chan, Sewell. 2007. Why Landlords Are Rejecting Section 8 Vouchers. New York Times. October 30, 2007. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/why-landlords-are-rejecting-section-8-vouchers

Dessus Jessie, Gregor Pischke, and Jakob Turborgh. The Humanity of Progress: Perspectives on The New Harlem Renaissance. Humanity In Action. Accessed April 21, 2015. http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/130-the-humanity-of-progress-perspectives-on-the-new-harlem-renaissance

Greenberg, Cheryl. Or Does It Explode? Black Harlem in the Great Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, 27

Gørrild, Marie , Sharon Obialo, and Nienke Venema. Gentrification and Displacement in Harlem: How the Harlem Community Lost Its Voice En Route to Progress. Humanity In Action.http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/79-gentrification-and-displacement-in-harlem-how-the-harlem-community-lost-its-voice-en-route-to-progress

“Harlem’s Second Coming.” BBC, December 23, 2000, sec. Americas. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1083578.stm.

Kelly, Kate. 2011. The Apollo Theater and How It Shaped American Entertainment: New Exhibit at Museum of the City of New York. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-kelly/the-apollo-theater-and-ho_b_827602.html.

Kinloch, Valerie. 2007. Research Directions: ‘The White-Ification of the Hood’: Power, Politics, and Youth Performing Narratives of Community. Language Arts 85, no. 1: 61–68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41962244

Ley, David. 2003. Artists, Aestheticisation and the Field of Gentrification. Urban Studies 40, no.12. http://tovarna.org/files0/active/2/6635-artists_aestheticisation_and_the.pdf

Massey, Daniel, 2010. The New Harlem Renaissance. Crain’s New York Business. http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20101031/REAL_ESTATE/101029829/the-new-harlem-renaissance

Meyer , Gerald. 1993. “Black Harlem in the Great Depression: A Review Essay.” New York History 74, no. 1: 97–104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23181759

Osofsky, Gilbert. 1965. “A DECADE OF URBAN TRAGEDY: HOW HARLEM BECAME A SLUM.” New York History 46, no. 4: 330–55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23162615

Rozhon, Tracie. 1997. Reviving the Harlem Brownstone. The New York Times, sec. Real Estate. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/27/realestate/reviving-the-harlem-brownstone.html

Samuelsson, Marcus. 2012. Savoring Harlem: Watching the New Harlem Renaissance Come Alive. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcus-samuelsson/savoring-harlem-watching_b_1293491.html.

Smith, Neil. 1987. Gentrification and the Rent Gap. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 77, no. 3 :462–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563279

Taylor, David V. 1974. Review of Walls Come Tumbling down: A History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1940-1970 by Thomas R. Brooks. Minnesota History 44, no. 3: 116–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20178320

Taylor, Monique M. 2002. Harlem Between Heaven and Hell. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Print.

Trotter, Joe William, Jr. 2002. “The Great Migration.” OAH Magazine of History 17, no. 1: 31–33. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163561

Williams, Timothy. 2008. In Changing Harlem, Soul Food Struggles. The New York Times, sec. New York Region. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/nyregion/06soulfood.html

Williams, Timothy. 2008. Mixed Feelings as Change Overtakes 125th St. The New York Times, sec. New York Region. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/nyregion/13journal.html.

Zukin, Sharon. 1987. “Gentrification: Culture and Capital in the Urban Core.” Annual Review of Sociology 13: 129–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2083243

Zukin, Sharon. 2011. “Reconstructing the Authenticity of Place.” Theory and Society 40, no. 2: 161–65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41475688

Introduction     

In 2012, an unprecedented case occurred in the United States. PSY, a Korean singer who released a song called “Gangnam Style,” had received huge support and recognition from Americans. After the big hit, he followed up with collaboration with Snoop Dogg, an African American rapper, called “Hangover.” The collaboration is crucial concerning the historic tension between Korean (Asian) Americans and African Americans; the collaboration with the two races is highly unusual (Grace Ji-Sun Kim 2014). The relation between the two groups have been defined, changed, and revised through periods of time before and after the Sa-I-Gu incident, the April 29^th riot in 1992 in Los Angeles that affected Korean businesses and storeowners. How has the Korean’s perspective of African Americans changed and why has it been defined in such way?

The History of Koreans’ Perspective of Foreigners

Historically, Korea has not had many interactions with foreign countries. Korea had a tendency to “inferiorize” other foreign countries; the legacy still remains in Korean culture. Koreans often refer to Westerners as yang nom, which derogates people from Western countries. Also, they often disparage the Japanese by calling them wae nom (Kyeyoung Park 1995). A group of some conservatives have enmity towards American people and culture due to the notion that the United States was overly involved in the establishment of the modern state of South Korea and continues to meddle in its politics. Also, in light of the ongoing Free Trade Agreement with the United States, some Korean citizens worry that Korean agriculture and small and medium-sized businesses will go out of business due to the massive import of American merchandise. Yankee is often used among the old generation Koreans as a derogative term for Americans. The reason why it is used so widely is unclear, unconfirmed. The East Asian country takes a reserved approach towards foreigners.

Among their perceptions of foreigners, there have been and still are strong negative stereotypes against African Americans than against typical European Americans of white skin color. Due to the participation of the U.S. army in South Korea during Korean War, many of the Korean residents have encountered white and black American soldiers. While they perceive the whites as the superior in hierarchy and admire the Korean Americans in high political and social position who are educated in the United States, it is not the same for African Americans. No study has been done for the reasons why Koreans place them in the lower of the racial hierarchy; however, it has been assumed that American media, which represents blacks as criminals and inferior, affected Koreans’ perception (Park 1995). Additionally, the Confucian values, which claim that better educational background will help one succeed in a society, are coherent with the American meritocracy that promotes improvement in one’s ability and talents. Therefore, African Americans, who are relatively less educated than Korean Americans, tend to be looked down upon (Edward Taehan Chang 1996).

Koreans’ Perspective on African Americans as Business Owners after Immigration

After immigrating to the United States, more than one third of Koreans opened up small or medium-sized businesses. In Washington D.C., as of 1997, two thirds of the existing small retailing businesses are owned by Korean Americans and three fourths of them are located mainly in black neighborhoods (Weitzer 1997). Generally, Koreans believe that “the lighter one’s skin color, the better one is treated” (Park 1995). Entering American society mostly as small or medium-sized business owners, they make judgments on the different images of various racial groups through the day-by-day interactions. As Koreans settled in Central Los Angeles, they experienced interactions with other minority groups, including Central Americans, Latinos, and African Americans, expanding their views. The encounter with the groups as business owners and customers helped Koreans settle their own understanding of the “foreigners.” Through hiring other groups as employees from Central American and Latin American countries in their businesses, they formulated opinions on which groups are considered subordinate to them. Even though Korean immigrants had experienced racial discrimination from other groups in the United States, they unfortunately discriminated against other groups in the same way (Park 1995).

As the middleman minority theory suggests, “immigrant groups (i.e., Koreans) are likely to experience friction with at least three important segments of the population: clientele, competitors, and labor unions” (Chang 1996: 67). Therefore, the frictions that are caused between Korean Americans and African Americans in the predominantly African American neighborhoods may be inevitable.

Also, the attitude of the Korean merchants towards African American customers promote conflict; some shop owners make the judgment too easily that African American customers would steal or shoplift merchandise from their shops (Park 1995). The Korean newcomers have reported the first impression of the blacks as dangerous and adverse commonly because of their dark skin colors. (Weitzer 1997).

It is noteworthy to see that Korean storeowners are nine times more likely to say that they had conflicts with African American customers than with Hispanic customers. (Weitzer 1997). This phenomenon occurs because often times the merchants are immigrant entrepreneurs and the customers are native-born. In addition, the two groups differ racially, therefore resulting in greater clash (Weitzer 1997). Koreans have a tendency to identify Hispanic customers as fellow immigrants because of Korean immigrants’ immigration history; they settled in the United States when the slavery and the civil war was already over, therefore this results in lack of information on the African Americans’ painful history. Also, Koreans now observe that a large influx of Latin American immigrants after they established communities in large cities, such as New York City and Los Angeles, and this observation allowed Koreans to feel a connection to the recent Latino immigrants than African Americans. (Weitzer 1997).

The factors that initiate problems between the two groups in African American neighborhoods are various. Firstly, the Korean merchants’ lack of proficiency in English cause the misunderstanding (Weitzer 1997). Some merchants reported having problems with taking care of complaints from African American customers simply because they do not understand what the complaints are about or they say words that they do not actually mean (Weitzer 1997). Secondly, the different expectations of etiquettes are a main source of tension. Because of the different cultural expectations, some crucial cultural etiquette is misunderstood. The “restrictions on making eye contact, smiling, and touching strangers” (Weitzer 1997: 594) of Korean merchants can be interpreted as a demeanor by the African Americans due to the “caste etiquette” of the Old South (Weitzer 1997). Lastly, Korean Americans are not generally aware of the struggles and discriminations against the blacks because the majority of Korean immigrants arrived to the United States after the Civil Rights movement (Chang 1996).

Weitzer found that the racial attitudes towards African Americans were consistent regardless of “merchants’ age, gender, income, type of business, or length of time in the United States; however, the study showed a small difference in that Korean merchants in middle-class areas showed less racial prejudice against the African Americans than the Korean merchants in lower-class areas (Weitzer 1997).

The Effects of The LA Riots of 1992, Sa-I-Gu, on the Racial Perception

In this April 30, 1992 file photo, looters mill in the parking lot of the ABC Market in South-Central Los Angeles as violence and looting ensued on the first day of riots following the verdicts in the Rodney King assault case. The acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of King sparked rioting that spread across the city and into neighboring suburbs. Cars were demolished and homes and businesses were burned. Before order was restored, 55 people were dead, 2,300 injured and more than 1,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed.(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

The acquittal of the four police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, prompted destructive riots in Los Angeles. The metropolitan areas of Los Angeles were filled with rioters who had decided to act on the controversial issue. In the duration of six days, 50 people died and more than 2,000 people were injured. The civil unrest destroyed or damaged 1,000 building in the area, costing over $1 billion. Almost 12,000 people were arrested during the riots. In the middle of the tension between the minority groups, including Latin Americans and African Americans, and the majority group, the whites, there was Korean. The location of Korea town was in the center of Los Angeles, contributing to the reason why the rioters would have attempted to loot and destroy the area. Koreans were stuck in the middle of the two groups. The riots were “a direct challenge to the spatial practices of self-defined ethnic communities” (Timothy R. Tangherliini 1999). The Koreans felt an urge to claim the space, Korea town, as their own and protect it. Korea town, for many Korean immigrants, was not just a place where there were Korean merchandise and services; instead, the town provided them a sense of identity (Tangherliini 1999). Therefore, the attacks aimed towards the Korean businesses, such as markets, nail salons, and restaurants, had greatly affected their views of the groups that had destroyed their “identity.”

One of the major reasons why the blacks and the Latin American rioters had attacked the Korean community was because of the notion of model minority, which suggested that other minority groups should follow Korean Americans’ “high educational attainment levels, over-representation in small businesses, and high family incomes” (Chang 1996, Chang 2012). The racial stereotypes between two groups were exacerbated as African American viewed Korean merchants as “poison-pushing merchants” since most Korean businesses in 1992 were liquor stores (King-Kok Cheung 2005). Korea town was under attack by rioters.

A merchant, interviewed by Kyeyoung Park (1995), mentioned that “since Sa-I-Gu, his view of African Americans has deteriorated” (Park 1995: 72). Another interview, an account of an owner of Moon’s Market, noted the wrath towards African Americans due to the traumatizing event. He said, “Blacks are the most racist people alive. Why do they pick on the Korean community because Rodney King got beat-up?…Of course we can’t forget that media had a lot to do with venting hatred between blacks and Koreans, but they didn’t have to make up something that was never there. Blacks are troublemakers…” (Park 1995: 73). This group of merchants showed some affinity with Latinos and Mexicans while they treated the blacks as the main reason of which why the attacks on them happened. The merchants and storeowners often referred to blacks as naïve and simple-minded (Park 1995).

A rioter attacks a car on Florence and Normandie in Los Angeles after the King verdict 4/29/1992. Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

4-30-1992 Looting went on openly, even brazenly, as rioting widened in Los Angeles. Two men carry booty from an electronics store at Broadway and 47th Street.

Korean storeowners defend their property as gunfire breaks out in Koreatown at Western Avenue and 5th Street on 4/30/1992. Hyungwon Kang / Los Angeles Times.

The Changing Perspective of the Koreans

An effort to change the existing racial stereotype was spotted in Edward Chang’s book “Who African Americans Are”. The book educates the Korean readers of the oppressions and discriminations that the African Americans had gone through. It also drew the parallel line between the enslavement of African Americans and Korean Americans by whites and the Japanese, respectively (Andrew LePage 1993).

Before the LA riots, racial antagonisms were stronger between Korean Americans and African Americans than Korean Americans and Hispanic groups (Park 1995). However, after the crisis, the situation has to be reconsidered due to the effects of the riots that Latin Americans had given Korean Americans (Park 1995). Generally, the Korean immigrants had stated that they developed less negative opinions of African Americans after a period of time since they arrived in the United States (Weitzer 1997). The majority opinions claimed that the daily experience and encounters with the blacks had shifted their views of the blacks. They even mention that they realized that the once dangerous-looking group of people was warm and caring in essence. (Weitzer 1997). Many started to differentiate “nice blacks” from “troublemakers.” By this, one can stay away from derogatory remarks, which can generate accusation of racism (Weitzer 1997). Some portions of Korean merchants were able to relate themselves to African Americans with the concept of chung [warmth, communal ties] and claimed that the distorted images that they once had of African Americans came from the media (Weitzer 1997). Additionally, many distinctions and contrasts between the whites and the blacks were shown in Weitzer’s study (1997); while Koreans categorized the whites as individualistic and cold, they evaluated the blacks as warm and humane.

After the long-term black boycott in New York City that was directed towards Korean businesses, Korean merchants have not experienced any black boycotts since 1996 (Pyong Gap Min 2013). The two main reasons that halted the continuation of black boycotts were 1) a substantial decrease in Korean businesses, and 2) the change in racial compositions in once predominantly black neighborhoods (Min 2013). Because of the arrival of the immigrant merchants from many other countries, Korean businesses had no place to stand in black neighborhoods. Also, the influx of racially different groups have moved to black neighborhoods because of gentrification, resulting in African Americans’ decreased sense that they own the neighborhoods (Min 2013).

The trend in a massive influx of foreigner residents in the Korea peninsula also had a substantial effect in the changing of perspectives towards African Americans. The number of residents in Korea who are foreigners has been increasing remarkably from 750,873 in 2004 to 1,445,103 in 2012 (Ji Yoon Kim et al 2014). According to the 2013 survey conducted by the Asan Jung Chaek Yun Gu Won (Asan Policy Research Institution), Koreans responded that they do not feel Guh bu gam, loosely translated a feeling of aversion, towards foreigners. From the evidences that Koreans, from their own country, do experience and encounter significantly more foreigners, including the blacks, Koreans’ and Korean Americans’ perspective of African American will change more positively than it has been and still is.

Conclusion

Because of the “closed-ness” of Korean culture and history, Koreans have perceived some foreigners as inferior and others as superior. They usually identified the white “westerners” as superior, and the black “Africans” as inferior when they experienced and observed the two different races during Korean War. Koreans’ already existing attitude towards African Americans also exacerbated the relationship between the two racially different groups; many Korean business owners assumed that African Americans would steal their merchandise, and it leads them to observe the black customers with suspicious perspective. The three main reasons that cause problems between the two groups were 1) Koreans’ lack of proficiency, 2) the different expectations of etiquettes, and 3) Koreans’ lack of knowledge of the struggles that African American went through due to the time of their arrival to the United States (Weitzer 1997).

Despite the history of racial conflicts between Korean-African Americans, several evidences shine a positive light to the still existing racial discrimination and stereotypes in Korean American culture. While the Sa-I-Gu incident have destroyed Korean merchants’ stores, buildings, and identities, there are some positive factors that can be brought out from the tragic experience; the Korean American’s efforts to see the riots with a political and social spectrum rather than racially can help the two groups reestablish their distorted and broken perspectives of each other. Even though some groups of Korean Americans still hold grudges and racial stereotypes with derogative regards, there are signs of changing understanding of the African American group.

References

Chang, Edward Taehan. n.d. “Toward Understanding Korean and African American Relations.” In OAH Magazine of History. Organization of American Historians. http://www.jstor.org.memex.lehman.cuny.edu:2048/stable/25163103.

Cheung, King-Kok. n.d. “(Mis)interpretations and (In)justice: The 1992 Los Angeles ‘Riots’ and ‘Black-Korean Conflict.’” In MELUS. Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS).

Kang, Choong Gu, Ji Yoon Kim, and Eu Chul Lee. n.d. “닫힌 대한민국: 한국인의 다문화 인식과 정책(Closed Korea: Koreans’ Understanding of Multicultural Societies, and Policies.).” Asaninst.org. http://asaninst.org/contents/닫힌-대한민국-한국인의-다문화-인식과-정책/.

Kim, Grace Ji-Sun. 2015. “Psy’s ‘Hangover:’ Challenging Asian American and African American Relations.” The Huffington Post. Accessed April 27. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/grace-jisun-kim/psys-hangover-challenging_b_5592655.html.

LePAGE, ANDREW. 1993. “A New Chapter in Korean-Black Understanding :  Books: A Scholar Chronicles African-American Hardships for Korean-Americans. The Author Says He Is Trying Defuse Hostilities and to Show How the Black Struggle for Civil Rights Has Created Opportunities for Others.” Los Angeles Times, May 16. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-16/news/ci-36168_1_korean-and-african-americans-black-korean-alliance-korean-immigrants.

“Los Angeles Riots Fast Facts – CNN.com.” 2015. CNN. Accessed April 27. http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/us/los-angeles-riots-fast-facts/index.html.

Min, Pyong Gap. 2013. “Changes in New York in the Twenty-First Century.” In One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the 21st Century. Columbia University Press.

Park, Kyeyoung Park. n.d. “The Re-Invention Of Affirmative Action: Korean Immigrants’ Changing Conceptions Of African Americans And Latin Americans.” In Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, Vol. 24, No. 1/2, Applying Anthropology in the Inner City (SPRING-SUMMER, 1995),:pp. 59–92. The Institute, Inc. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40553279.

Tangherliini, Timothy R. n.d. “Remapping Koreatown: Folklore, Narrative and the Los Angeles Riots.” In Western Folklore. Vol. Vol. 58, No. 2, Built L.A.: Folklore and Place in Los Angeles (Winter, 1999), pp. 149–173. Western States Folklore Society. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1500164.

The Nation. 2015. “Want to Understand the 1992 LA Riots? Start with the 1984 LA Olympics.” Accessed April 27. http://www.thenation.com/blog/167630/want-understand-1992-la-riots-start-1984-la-olympics

Weitzer, Ronald. n.d. “Racial Prejudice among Korean Merchants in African American Neighborhoods.” In The Sociological Quarterly. Wiley on behalf of the Midwest Sociological Society. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4121081.

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Caution Stripe – http://pixabay.com/en/patterns-warning-black-yellow-26459/ – Nemo.

“PsyHangoverCover” by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PsyHangoverCover.jpg#/media/File:PsyHangoverCover.jpg

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http://www.twincities.com/ci_20499303/20-years-later-l-riot-still-casts-shadow

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Asian Americans

Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing groups in the United States. They are a very diverse group of people made up of many individuals from many different countries (Progress 2050, 2015). These countries include Cambodia, China, Philippines, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, and others (Progress 2050, 2015). Even though all these groups would be classified as “Asians”, there are many differences between each group. Some Asians have a high socioeconomic standing than others, while some Asians fare quite poorly when it comes to their socioeconomic standing. Within each Asian country, there are numerous differences between the people. Indian immigrants are made up of many religions, which include Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Catholics. Religion is a big part of Indian people’s lives. Religion is who they are, so it matters greatly. There are many differences between Indian immigrants depending on what their religion is. Most people would just assume that all Indians are the same, but this is not the case. Indians identify strongly with their religion and there seems to be some trends between Indian immigrants depending on what religion they associate themselves with.

Indian Americans by Numbers

Indians started to migrate to the United States during the early 1900s and most of them settled on the West Coast (Khandelwal, 2002). According to the 1980 census, the majority of Indians were located in New York City, with 53% of them residing in Queens (Khandelwal, 2002). In 2011, there were nearly 1.9 million Indian immigrants living in the United States. This number represented the third largest immigrant group behind Mexico and China. Less than 0.5 percent of Indian immigrants were in the United States in 1960. This number grew significantly to almost five percent in 2011. In this year, approximately 1.9 million Indian immigrants lived in the Unites States and more than one-quarter of all Indian immigrants were concentrated in the three major metropolitan areas, which were New York, Chicago, Illinois, and San Jose, California. Roughly 304,300 Indian immigrants were living in the New York metropolitan area. This number represented 16% of all Indians born in the Unites States. Chicago held 114,000 Indian immigrants, which represented 6%, and lastly was San Jose, which held 90,000 Indian immigrants, which was 5%. Indian immigrants were also living in San Francisco, California, Washington DC, Los Angeles, California, Dallas, Texas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Trenton, New Jersey, Richmond, Virginia, and Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina (Whatley and Batalova, 2013).

Legal Status

In 2012, over 66,000 Indian-born immigrants were granted U.S. legal permanent residency and approximately 66,434 Indian immigrants were able to obtain green cards (Whatley and Batalova, 2013). Indians were more likely to come to the United States through employment-based means. Most Indians came to the United States in search of better educational opportunities for themselves and their family. They came to the United States for high-paying jobs, which would lead to a better life. Fifty percent of the Indian immigrants who were granted legal permanent residency in 2012 were admitted through employment-based means. Approximately 48 percent of Indian immigrants who were granted legal permanent residency in 2012 were admitted through family relationships, like sponsorship. Roughly 42,928 Indian immigrants became naturalized citizens; this number represents about 6 percent of the 757,434 new United States citizens that year. Indian immigrants were the third largest group to naturalize in 2012, after Mexicans and Filipinos (Whatley and Batalova, 2013). More than one-fifth of nonimmigrants in the United States in 2011 were from India. There was an estimated 1.9 million nonimmigrants living in the United States in 2011 and out of this number roughly 420,000 or 22 percent were Indian. Nonimmigrants included temporary workers, students, exchange visitors, diplomats, and accompanying family members. Indians were the largest group of nonimmigrants, followed by China, South Korea, and Canada. About 73 percent of the nonimmigrant population from India consisted of temporary workers, 24 percent consisted of students, and approximately 2 percent consisted of exchange visitors. Two-thirds (280,000) of Indian nonimmigrants were between the ages of 25 and 34 and nearly 58 percent or 250,000 were male (Whatley and Batalova, 2013). A huge number of the Indian nonimmigrants were male because they were the ones that tended to come first to America and then their family would follow. These men were also of working age so they had greater chances of getting a high-paying job, which would help support their family.

Demographic/Socioeconomic Factors of Indian immigrants

Indian immigrant men were greater in numbers than Indian immigrant women in 2011. Out of the total number of Indian immigrants living in the United States in 2011, 53 percent of them were men and 47 percent of them were women. Of the Indian born immigrants living in the United States in 2011, 85 percent of them were of working age (ages 16 to 64). This number can be compared to the 63 percent of the native born being of working age and the 82 percent of all Indian immigrants being between the ages of 16 and 64 (Whatley and Batalova, 2013). Many groups when coming to the United States tend to keep their language and show no interest in learning the English language, but this is not the case for Indian immigrants. More than 70 percent of Indian immigrants have strong English skills. In 2011, 9 percent of Indian immigrants aged 5 and older spoke only English and 63 percent spoke English “very well.” 18 percent spoke English “well”, 6 percent spoke English, but “not well”, and less than 3 percent of Indian immigrants did not speak English at all (Whatley and Batalova, 2013). Indians tend to come to America for opportunity. They want to further their education and get jobs in America. They usually plan to stay in The States and raise a family; so learning English is a necessity to them, which is why they take the time to learn to speak English fluently. In 2011, 75 percent of Indian adults (25 or older) had a bachelor’s degree or higher. More than 29 percent of employed Indian- born men worked in the Information Technology occupations, whereas 19 percent of employed Indian-born women worked in management, business, and finance. Men tended to work in the IT field, along with business-related fields, like management, finance, and sales. Indian men were more likely to be working in the science and technology field, like in engineering, and also in business- related occupations (Whatley and Batalova, 2013). In New York, many Indians are moving into small businesses such as newsstands, candy stores, and gas stations. Many Indians tend to live in clusters, creating Indian business districts such as in Jackson Heights and Flushing in Queens, and in downtown Manhattan, around 28th and 29th Streets and Lexington Avenue (Khandelwal, 2002). Indian men were rarely found working in construction, transportation, manufacturing, and repair occupations.

 Asian Americans by Religion Specifically Indian Americans

Asian Americans contribute to a wide range of religious diversity. Most Asians Americans belong to the two largest religious groups: Christians and people who have no particular religious affiliation. Christians make up 42 percent of Asian adults and 26 percent are Asians who do not associate themselves with any religion. Buddhists make up 14 percent of Asian Americans, followed by Hindus who make up 10 percent, then Muslims who make up 4 percent and lastly Sikhs who make up 1 percent (“Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths”, 2012). Asian American Hindus (approximately 73%) celebrate Christmas in America. They are adapting to the United States religious scene. Christmas is a big holiday in America, so the Hindus in America are exposed to many Catholic holidays. Hindu Indians, surrounded by people of different religions, naturally will start taking part in what is around them. 30% of Hindus stated that they attend services of different religions. Hindus tend to be more inclusive in their understanding of faith and most of them believe that many religions can lead to eternal life, not just their own. The majority of Indian Americans (51%) are Hindus, followed by 11% being Protestant (18% are Christian), then 10% being Muslim and 10% being unaffiliated with any religion, 5% Catholic, 5% Sikh, and 2% Jain as show in the chart below (“Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths”, 2012). Indian immigrants of the New York area categorize themselves largely by religious affiliation.

Asian American Hindus are less likely to say that religion plays a big role in their life. Asian American Catholics are much more inclined to say that religion plays a big role in their life which is interesting because of all the Asian- American religious groups, Hindus are the least likely to convert to different faiths even though most of them are not likely to say that religion plays a big role in their lives. Approximately 76% of Asian Americans have a spouse of the same religion and about 23% are married to someone of a different religion. The lowest intermarriage rate is among Hindus; they tend to marry other Hindus. 94% (nine in ten) Hindus have a spouse who is also Hindu. 81% (eight in ten) Catholics are married to fellow Catholics (“Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths”, 2012). Even though Hindus do not believe as strongly as Catholics that religion plays an important role in their lives, they are the least likely group for conversions and intermarriage. This is because the majority of people who are Indian are Hindus. Hindus tend to follow tradition and naturally would marry someone who shares the same beliefs and values as them. Hindus and Indians in general are usually very close to their family, so the older generation would definitely push their children to marry someone of the same religion, in this case Hinduism. The following chart shows the percentage of people within each religion who marry either within their religion or intermarry.

Are Asian Americans Typical Americans?

When Asian Americans were asked the question if they view themselves as “a typical American or very different from a typical American”, Asians are more likely to view themselves as very different (53%) rather than as a typical American (39%). 44% of Christians view themselves as typical Americans, whereas 49% of Christians view themselves as very different. 46% of Catholics view themselves as typical Americans, whereas 49% of Catholics view themselves as very different. 27% of Hindus view themselves as typical Americans, whereas 59% view themselves as very different (“Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths”, 2012). Answers to this question have a strong correlation as to whether the person was born in the United States or was foreign born. Asian Americans who are Christian or Catholic are more likely to see themselves as American, rather than Hindus. This may be because Hindus identify more with their Indian background, than Catholics or Christians who can become more “Americanized” because Catholics and Christians are made up of many races, whereas Hindus are mostly Indians. Indian Catholics and Christians are exposed to Catholics and Christians of different races, whereas Hindus are mostly all Indians.

Socioeconomic Characteristics of Religious Groups

The median annual household income for Indian Americans in 2010 was $88,000. This number is much higher than for all Asian Americans ($66,000) and all U.S. households ($49,800) (Desilver, 2014). This is not surprising since Indians tend to have high education levels. When speaking in regard to education and income, Hindus are at the top. Hindus are at the top not only among Asian American religious groups, but also among all the United States religious groups. Approximately 85% of Asian American Hindu adults are college graduates, and roughly 57% have some post-graduate education. Asian-American Hindus who have studied at the post-graduate level is 40% higher than among Asian-American Buddhists and Catholics. Many Asian immigrants come to the United States through the H-1B visa program. This program is designed to encourage the immigration of engineers, scientists, and other highly skilled workers from foreign countries. In 2011, India made up more than half of all the H-1B visas granted. The majority of United States Hindus are Indian. Indian Americans as a whole are a well-educated, prosperous group of individuals. Indian-American Hindus tend to have more years of education and higher household incomes than other (non-Hindu) Indian Americans (“Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths”, 2012). 51% of Hindu Indian-American adults earn at least $100,000 annually. This can be compared to the 34% of non-Hindu Indian Americans and the 58% of Hindu Indian Americans who have studied at the post-graduate level, compared to the 36% of non-Hindu Indian Americans. There is a higher percentage of Hindu Indian Americans who have studied at the post-graduate level. This could reflect the high socioeconomic status of Hindus. Half of the Asian American Christians that were surveyed are college graduates (49%) and about a third report household incomes of at least $75,000 (37%) (“Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths”, 2012).

Indian Americans are a very diverse group of Asian Americans. Within Indian Americans, there are many subcategories that can be broken down based on religion. To Indians and to many people, religion is a big part of their lives. What is interesting is the certain characteristics that each religious group is associated with. Indian Americans are a prosperous, well-off group of Asian Americans who will continue to grow for years to come.

Works Cited

Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths. (2012, July 18). Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.pewforum.org/2012/07/19/asian-americans-a-mosaic-of-faiths-overview/

DeSilver, D. (2014, September 30). 5 facts about Indian Americans. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/30/5-facts-about-indian-americans/

Khandelwal, M. (n.d.). Indian Immigrants in New York City. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Centers/Asian/Documents/research_papers/aacre16.htm

Whatley, M., & Batalova, J. (2013, August 21). Indian Immigrants in the United States. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/indian-immigrants-united-states#3

2050, P. (2015, April 28). Who Are Asian Americans? Retrieved May 3, 2015, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2015/04/28/111694/who-are-asian-americans/

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Throughout time and the fluctuating condition of society, people have used music as a means of expression. This expression is often a reflection of individual and collective emotion, and furthermore, a statement of despondency. These manifestations of frustration have continually translated into perpetuators of social change, or have at least served as vessels through which awareness has traveled. This phenomenon can be noted countless times in history, such as the faculty of music, and jazz in particular, in the progression of the Civil Rights Movement. In this reading, the integration of music, in relation to its application to the fight for social equality, will be explored and analyzed. By conducting an in-depth and comprehensive study on this topic, one will be able to recognize the implications that music has on the evolution of political, psychological, and sociological states of New Yorkers, and apply these lessons to garner a greater understanding of the significance of art.

After the abolishment of slavery, African Americans continued to suffer through an exceedingly high degree of discrimination. With political enforcements such as Jim Crow laws, people of color were formally prohibited from participating in certain activities and entering certain places. They also struggled with both obvious and concealed social stratifications, which withheld them from being able to comfortably assimilate into society. Due to this refusal of acceptance and perpetual marginalization, the black population was impelled to retract into a community of rejection and subdued aggravation. Subsequently, this inspired the expression of these sentiments and the exposure of a communal demand for change. Through passive and active campaigns for racial equality, came a period in time in which the search for egalitarianism and justice came to the forefront of America, otherwise known as the Civil Rights Movement.

There were various approaches taken in order to develop and advance the Civil Rights Movement, such as acts of civil disobedience and non-violent protests. By the late 1960’s, a rise in black nationalistic organizations took place, with emerging groups such as the NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC. There were also more brutal tactics such as those devised by militaristic groups such as the Black Panther party (“Civil Rights Movement”). However, a consistent technique with which many artists would communicate their advocacy for this battle would be the utilization of music. Both professional musicians and passionate citizens would join in harmony to portray the tenacious ambition with which they fought. These became known as “freedom songs,” and in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “they give the people new courage and a sense of unity. I think they keep alive a faith, a radiant hope, in the future, particularly in our most trying hours” (“Songs and the Civil Rights Movement”).

Singing and listening to music can bring people together in an emotional environment, which can encourage strength and confidence in a large population. Martin Luther King Jr. called these freedom songs the “soul of the movement,” perpetuating unity and an overwhelming feeling of kinship between the fellow protestors. In King’s words, African Americans sang for the same reason they sang during slavery- to add hope to the determination that they would, in fact, overcome. Recognizing the roots of traditional songs, but putting a more applicable twist on them, young activists began to move away from the religious oriented hymns and towards more contemporary compositions. They began to create their own lyrics, transforming the direction, but maintaining the essence of the entrenched pain in the black soul (“Songs and the Civil Rights Movement”).

Around the 1920’s, New York City became home to the most African Americans amongst the northern states. The majority of them resided in Harlem, birthplace of a large degree of Black Nationalism, as well as certain types of jazz. There were many theaters, nightclubs, and hall jobs, to which many professionals were attracted (Schoenberg, “New York: America’s Jazz Capitol”). One of the more notable jazz musicians who also served as an activist was Louis Armstrong. This was a talented trumpeter who spoke out against the injustices practiced in America, both verbally and through music. However, he was often criticized for agreeing to play for primarily Caucasian audiences, in which he responded to through the powerful lyrics of his songs (Monson 3). An excerpt of one of his works sings, “My skin is only my skin. What did I do to be so black and blue?” This can be interpreted as reflecting the physical and emotional anguish African Americans suffered through during this time. The colors black and blue can be a reference to bruises as a result of bodily abuse, or the metaphorical description of a damaged psychological state due to public ostracizing (Teichroew, “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement”).

Other artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Bil Evans, Max Roach, and many more were also acknowledged for being activists through their music (Monson 4). Max Roach was an innovator of his time, empowering blacks to shout out against the discrimination and demand equality. With albums such as “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and “Speak Brother Speak,” his songs captured the heightened intensity which sparked the emotions that led to enraged protests and violent outlets. Charles Mingus composed a piece titled “Fables of Faubus” after learning of an incident in Arkansas, where the governor hired the National Guard to prevent students from entering a desegregated school. Outraged, he included lyrics addressing century long strife in the struggle for liberty. Lines such as “Oh Lord, don’t let ‘em tar and feather us, Oh Lord, no more swastikas, Oh Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan” blatantly express the abhorrence towards racism and the aversion towards the implications of the Jim Crow laws (Teichroew, “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement”).

John Coltrane was another activist who used his music to express the need for cultural evolution. After King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he was moved to join the movement, using his talents to bring awareness to the public. With his song “Alabama,” he mesmerized listeners with powerful political messages referencing an incident in Alabama. Four young girls were killed in a church bombing as a result of furious racists. His song uses solemn melodies to help capture the exasperation, but the ever-continuous fight of the African American searching for justice and peace. Though lacking words, his musical compositions were able to encapsulate the emotion of the movement by tapping into the crux of jazz’s anarchy. The rebellious improvisation and freedom of solo pieces helped embody the universal language of music and the sentiments that it can invoke (Teichroew, “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement”).

However, jazz music was not the only type of music geared towards the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement. Many pop and folk artists used their skills to express the struggles of African Americans during this period. For example, the popular song “Hit the Road Jack” was modified into “Get Your Rights Jack,” in order to encourage activism in civil rights (Fenner, “Music Inspired Courage in Civil Rights Era”). “We Shall Not Be Moved” was also a very influential song that maintained the perseverance of the activists by stating the permanence of black esteem. With lyrics such as “We shall not be moved, black and white together, we shall not be moved,” the song encouraged integration and peaceful relations between the two populations, but kept the sense of fixed determination. “Change Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke captured the adversity experienced during his time, but also expressed a hope for a new beginning. Likewise, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are A-Changing” reflected the prospect of a nobler tomorrow by portraying an image of a revolutionized America (Gane-McCalla, “Top Ten Civil Rights Protest Songs of All Time”).

Contemporary jazz is not as commonly used to critique social issues, but is still used to deliver messages and express emotions. It has been used to completely transform and inspire the musical world by breaking the norms of traditional arrangements. It brought about a more open minded and appreciative audience and pushed the boundaries of musical art. Many Caucasians were able to realize the talent of black jazz artist and respect their work despite the racial stratifications of the time. Though physical audiences were segregated, listening audiences consisted of all types of nationalities. The popularity of jazz stemmed from its ability to stray from tradition and create innovative expressions of virtuosity. This concept has been applied to the progressed psyche of society by continually asserting the “foreign” and acceptance of the new (“Jazz and its Influence on America”).

Music in all its entirety, however, is still used to send political messages and propagate social change. Lyrical songs of various genres have been used to make powerful statements in efforts of shedding light on certain topics. Green Day’s “American Idiot,” for example, discusses the American addiction to consumerism and imprisonment to social media. With lyrics such as “You got the bastards in Washington/ Afraid of popping the green vein/ ‘Cause the money’s in the pipeline/ And the pipeline’s running dry,” Sheryl Crow’s “Gasoline” attacks the governmental lack of action against the life-threatening global problem of climate change (Grady, “21 Songs of 21^st Century Politics”). Bruce Springsteen’s “American Skin” was a song inspired by Amadou Diallo, and dedicated to Trayvon Martin during the singer’s Wrecking Ball tour, tackling the concept of excessive police brutality towards colored people. “Same Love” by Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis delves into the presently controversial topic of same-sex marriage and fights for human rights of homosexuals. The list goes on and on with people continuing in the age-old tradition of voicing their difficulties and hope for change through words stapled onto a melody (Dussan, “To Celebrate ‘I Have a Dream’ 9 Modern Socially Conscious Songs”).

As one can see, throughout the shifting condition of the society, humanity has always found a way to express their frustrations through art and music. Whether in hopes of their songs being a personal therapeutic release or a cry to rally people together behind an anthem of courage, artists have used music as a vessel of communication, from one party to the public. Consequently, music has been able to capture the state of the people, telling the stories that facts and figures could never know. The Civil Rights Movement is a clear demonstration of this, as music from both traditional folk and mainstream jazz has established and recorded a battle crucial to understanding the history, present shape, and future of America. And, by understanding the cultural and societal facets of the global circumstance, one can come to closer to finding the key to universal peace.

Works Cited

“Civil Rights Movement.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement>.

Dussan, Mariana. “To Celebrate “I Have a Dream,” 9 Modern Socially Conscious Songs – ShowBizCafe.com.” ShowBizCafe. Show Biz Cafe. Com, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://showbizcafe.com/9-modern-socially-conscious-songs-for-the-50th-anniversary-of-i-have-a-dream/>.

Fenner, Louise. “Music Inspired Courage in Civil Rights Era.” Music Inspired Courage During Civil Rights Era. IIP Digital: United States of America Embassy, 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/03/201203071732.html#axzz3Xxtdy2lo>.

Gane-McCalla, Casey. “Top 10 Civil Rights Protest Songs Of All Time.” News One RSS. Interactive One, 15 Oct. 2011. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://newsone.com/1460645/top-10-civil-rights-protest-songs-of-all-time/>.

Grady, James. “21 Songs of 21st Century Politics.” Politics Daily. AOL Inc., 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/08/21-songs-of-21st-century-politics/>.

“Jazz and Its Influence on America.” HubPages. Hub Pages Inc., 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://paulwestphal.hubpages.com/hub/Jazz-and-its-influence-on-America>.

Leaders at the Heat of the Civil Rights Movement on Washington. 1963. National Archives Foundation, College Park. National Archives. Web. 5 May 2015. <http://research.archives.gov/description/542002>.

Monson, Ingrid T. Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa. New York:

Oxford University Press, 2007. Web.

Schoenberg, Loren. “New York: America’s Jazz Capitol.” New York: Jazz Capitol of the World. PBS. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/jazz/places/places_new_york.htm>.

Shafron, Gavin Ryan. (2010) The Science and Psychology Behind Music and Emotion. Journal of Young Investigators. 20 (5), 3-11. <http://www.jyi.org/issue/the-science-and-psychology-behind-music-and-emotion/>.

“Sing For Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs.” Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Institution, 2015. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.folkways.si.edu/sing-for-freedom-the-story-of-the-civil-rights-movement/african-american-music-american-history-historical-song-struggle-protest/album/smithsonian>.

“Songs and the Civil Rights Movement.” Martin Luther King Jr., and the Global Freedom Struggle. Standford University. Web. 3 May 2015. <http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_songs_and_the_civil_rights_movement>.

Teichroew, Jacob. “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement.” “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement” Facebook, 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 4 May 2015. <https://www.facebook.com/notes/billie-holiday-sarah-vaughan-dinah-washington-ella-fitzgerald/jazz-and-the-civil-rights-movement-how-jazz-musicians-spoke-out-for-racial-equal/444776377451>.

“Voices of Struggle.” Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Institution, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.folkways.si.edu/voices-struggle-civil-rights-movement-1945-1965/african-american-spoken-word-protest/article/smithsonian>.

World Telegraph Staff Photographer. Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter 1952. Library of

Congress Prints and Photographs Division, New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. Wikipedia Commons. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_Armstrong_restored.jpg>.

Bob Marley, the sole global icon of reggae, exemplified the spirit and stretched the gospel of reggae to every nook and cranny of the world. His unique approach to reggae and extraordinary samples of work greatly influenced the eloquent spectrum of modern Jamaican music while carrying the music to another level as a social stimulus with an appeal to many different nationalities. Unlike hip-hop and how many artists have contributed to its development, there are a few others in reggae who have changed the game, musically and culturally, as profoundly as Bob Marley (Whitney).

Without a doubt, reggae is a section of the rock and roll music genre, taking part of its full heritage of social stimuli and eloquent influences. Bob Marley thought that every song held a symbolic idea, whether it was reggae music, soul music, or rock music. Marley’s own particular symbolism was derived from his firsthand knowledge of and experiences with the disadvantages of the Jamaican ghettos and from his beliefs as a dedicated member of the newly formed Rastafari movement (White). Rastafarians revere the Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, also known as Ras Tafari, proclaiming him to be the living god who would lead oppressed blacks back to an African homeland (King). Marley’s lyrics mixed religious thoughts and beliefs with focuses targeting for political uprising, and Marley successfully delivered them in an understanding voice (White).

The engaging and delightful rhythms of reggae served as its signature characteristics, driving it to the front face of the music scene in the 1970s via the popular work of Bob Marley and the Wailers on the Island and Tuff Gong record labels. Milestone-reaching albums, such as Natty Dread and Rastaman Vibration, gave a voice that the poor and unfortunate citizens of Jamaica and, by extension, the world could easily relate to (Alvarez). By connecting this bridge, Marley indoctrinated those underprivileged Jamaicans with a refined sense of decency and self-confidence in their heritage, no matter how depressing the realities of their daily existences were. He was moved throughout his career by the gulf between haves and have-nots, a culture of oppression that was glaring in his poverty and crime-ridden Jamaican homeland (Gilroy).

Furthermore, Marley’s melodic reggae structures allowed for a rhythmic improvement that generated positive vibrations in his entire music audience. Perhaps, this is where the phrase “good vibes” may have originated. Bob Marley’s music was considered to be a suppressant for adversity and all of the hardships that life threw at a person (Gilroy).

As a presumptuous teenager, Marley formed a musical trio with his close friends, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh. The members of the vocal group grew up in a ghetto parish in Trench Town, Kingston. They listened to and grew quite fond of rhythm and blues on American radio stations, becoming influenced by a number of American greats, such as Ray Charles, the Drifters, Fats Domino and Curtis Mayfield. Marley, Wailer and Tosh established their musical group name as the Wailing Wailers, which was later shortened to the Wailers, because they were victims and survivors of the ghetto who had been born “wailing.” Due to their involvement in Rastafarianism, the Wailers grew their hair in dreadlocks, a signature Rastafari hairstyle. They also smoked marijuana, prevalently referred to as ganja in Jamaica, which was believed to be a powerful herb that elicited spiritual insight (Whitney).

The Wailers produced records for small Jamaican labels at a highly productive rate throughout the 1960s. This was during the time that ska was the most popular sound. Ska was a precursor to reggae and it consisted of pieces from Caribbean mento and calypso combined with American jazz and rhythm and blues. The Wailers had their first hit in 1963 with “Simmer Down.” Around the time of this accomplishment, Marley took a spiritual detour and Jamaican music itself was transforming from the jumpy ska beat to the more voluptuous beats of rock steady. An affiliation with Jamaican music producer Lee Perry resulted in some of the Wailers’ most memorable recordings, including the songs “Soul Rebel” and “Duppy Conqueror,” and the albums Soul Rebel and Soul Revolution (White and Whitney).

Although the Wailers were extremely popular in Jamaica, it was not until the group signed with Chris Blackwell’s Island Records in the early 1970s that they were connected with an international audience. Their first recordings for Island Records, Catch a Fire and Burnin’, were powerhouse albums laced with Marley’s melodic propaganda. Burnin’ contained “I Shot the Sheriff,” a very much liked song track. Remixes and uses of the song further extended the name of Marley and the Wailers beyond their Jamaican home territory, making their names known in different parts of the world (Alleyne).

Bob Marley has been and always will be an inspirational individual; not only to many Jamaican musicians but also to musicians around the globe, not just through his popularity but him representing the music and bringing Jamaica and reggae music to the forefront of the world. Some of Bob Marley’s songs even sound modern and a lot of young artists remake or perform his music. Marley was singing with a message that also remains relevant to present-day issues. His messages included proposed solutions to crime and violence, making it understandable as to why hip-hop DJs used aspects of reggae and Jamaican music to influence their performances (Marshall).

In the 1970s, the Bronx was decaying as a community. Crime, mostly committed by bloodthirsty gang affiliates, was over the top and climbing in the South Bronx. Housing and living conditions were preposterous. The people were stagnant as a community. However, life started to change for the better and peace was distributed to the community following the emergence of hip-hop (Basu).

Hip-hop was not judgmental or prejudice. It did not care about the specifics of its creation – where, how, or why it all started. Instead, the establishment of hip-hop in New York City served as a re-inventive factor, promoting peace between violent groups of people with different standpoints and connecting the social bridge in order to encourage the togetherness of a deteriorating community (Basu).

The foundations of hip-hop might be displeasing to the present-day, technologically advanced individual, but in the 1970s, abandoned offices or apartment buildings suited well for the people of the South Bronx. DJs played a significant role in the advancement of hip-hop’s popularity with their musically innovative displays. The popularity of sampling rose when most DJs experimented by manipulating vinyl on two turntables and an audio mixer. Sampling, developed before the hip-hop movement, is the act of taking a portion of a sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece. Like many other significant hip-hop components, trial and error was used to induce sampling (Neer).

A key element to the success of hip-hop’s origination would be a man by the name of Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc. Not only did he introduce the building blocks to hip-hop, but also being influenced by Bob Marley and his Jamaican heritage was a pertinent contributor to the overall development of hip-hop. DJ Kool Herc hosted a party with a sound system, consisting of two turntables and a guitar amp. The idea of sound systems was developed in Jamaica, where DJs would fill up their trucks with a generator, turntables and enormous speakers to set up block parties (Allen, Marshall, and Sutton).

The globalization of hip-hop was encouraged by its thrilling and appealing results such breakdancing and remixing. In European and Asian countries, hip-hop has allowed people from all generations to recognize a sense of style and a sense of self (Basu).

In “Hip Hop Japan,” Ian Condry discusses how strange it can be to travel from New York to Tokyo and find teens styled in the same hip-hop trends as those in the United States. However, while everything seems the same, it’s actually not. The borrowed hip-hop culture is infused with local, cultural movements. The local b-boys and b-girls have incorporated their own individual taste to the mix. In Italy, where hip-hop culture and rap music have had a strong and growing advancement for more than two decades, rappers rhyme in their local dialects. The subject of Italian rap music, while more recently is concerned mostly with love and other conventional topics, has included everything from the Mafia to government corruption to homelessness to drug addiction (Condry).

Musical movements have made their way across geographical divides before, but hip-hop is more than just music. Hip-hop is a way of life that encompasses physical responses and personal expression. Hip-hop’s wide reach is also tied to the commercialization of the movement. Record companies, fashion labels, sports franchises, and even food and beverage companies are all selling their products by advertising the hip-hop lifestyle and all of its glamorous luxuries, and how their shoes, soda or sandwiches fit into it (Neer).

Another key element that has helped spread the hip-hop gospel is the Internet. At no other point in history have people living in such dissimilar circumstances and in separate parts of the world been able to come together to communicate like they can now (Neer).

Hip-hop’s roots can be found in a variety of African-influenced musical styles. African-American gospel, folk, blues, jazz and R&B music each share similar branches, as do calypso, salsa, soca, ska, reggae and other Afro-Caribbean styles. Versioning in reggae music is similar to sampling in hip-hop. In versioning, someone creates and records a song. The song becomes popular and other recording artists make dozens, if not more, of other versions (Marshall).

The globalization of reggae was not as easily facilitated as the globalization of hip-hop. However, it is clear that reggae served as a lead-way for hip-hop, thanks to the most profound reggae icon. The heartbeat reggae rhythms of the large body of music that Bob Marley left behind have endured. With sales of more than 10 million in the United States alone, Legend remains the best-selling album by a Jamaican artist and the best-selling reggae album in history. Moreover, Jamaica itself has been transformed by his charismatic personality and musical output. Marley’s pacifist reggae anthem, “One Love,” was adapted as a theme song by the Jamaican Tourist Board. Meanwhile, Marley’s music continues to find an audience and influence hip-hop. Though he died unfortunately due to cancer at an early age, Bob Marley’s intended legacy will continue to live on and impact the popular reggae and hip-hop music genres (Alvarez).

Works Cited

Allen, Ray, and Lois Wilcken, eds. Island sounds in the global city: Caribbean popular music and identity in New York. University of Illinois Press, 1998.

Alleyne, Mike. “Globalization and commercialization of Caribbean music.” Popular Music History 3.3 (2009): 247-273.

Alvarez, Luis. “Reggae rhythms in dignity’s diaspora: globalization, indigenous identity, and the circulation of cultural struggle.” Popular Music and Society 31.5 (2008): 575-597.

Basu, Dipannita, and Sidney J. Lemelle, eds. The vinyl ain’t final: hip hop and the globalization of black popular culture. London: Pluto, 2006.

Condry, Ian. Hip-hop Japan: Rap and the paths of cultural globalization. Duke University Press, 2006.

Gilroy, Paul. “Could You Be Loved? Bob Marley, anti‐politics and universal sufferation.” Critical Quarterly 47.1‐2 (2005): 226-245.

King, Stephen A. “International reggae, democratic socialism, and the secularization of the Rastafarian movement, 1972–1980.” Popular Music & Society 22.3 (1998): 39-60.

Marshall, Wayne Glenn. Routes, Rap, Reggae: Hearing the Histories of Hip-Hop and Reggae Together. Diss. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, 2006.

Neer, Katherine. “How Hip-hop Works.” 19 December, 2007. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/hip-hop.htm> 03 May, 2015.

Sutton, Constance R. “The Caribbeanization of New York City and the emergence of a transnational sociocultural system.” Center for Migration Studies special issues 7.1 (1989): 15-29.

White, Timothy. Catch a fire: the life of Bob Marley. Macmillan, 2006.

Whitney, Malika Lee, and Dermott Hussey. Bob Marley: reggae king of the world. Plume, 1984.

A Cappella is music without the use of instruments. “A Cappella” means “of the church” or “in the manner of the church” because this style of music was originally used as religious. As early as twenty BCE, this style of music was used in various religions to worship their designated God(s) . Through the years, it has grown into doo-wop, barbershop-style quartets, collegiate a cappella, and commercialized a cappella. (Tolentino)

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Originally, instruments weren’t used in churches. Often, worship and praise was in the form of chanting and singing with no accompaniment. This occurred for the first one thousand years of Christianity and Catholicism. This instrument-less music came to be what we know as “a cappella” music. A cappella in the church was most prevalent and most used during the Renaissance. It was perceived not as entertainment, but as a way to honor God. I would argue that this aspect of religious A cappella music has not changed. As with all religious music, its purpose is to glorify a specific deity. The purpose for A cappella music is worship is to isolate and highlight the words being said. The focus can easily be shifted to the accompaniment, so singing a cappella brings more importance to the words and declarations being said for the deity (Wyse) . For a long period of time, this was the only purpose of a cappella music. However, eventually a cappella grew into so many different genres and branches.

COLLEGIATE A CAPPELLA

Collegiate a cappella is one of the oldest traditions dating back as far as 1909. The oldest known collegiate a cappella group is the Yale Whiffenpoofs. They are known for The Whiffenpoof Song, which has been done the same way since it was written in 1910. The style of this arrangement is very classical. The notes are sung very legato with full and hearty chord progressions. The song starts with a standard four-four time signature with a moderate speed and changes to a three-four time signature with a bit of a swing in the tempo. Although the beat changes, it doesn’t change so drastically that the feel and vibe of the song changes (Fayette) . With older groups such as the Whiffenpoofs, the purpose of collegiate a cappella is to uphold tradition with classic songs. Using an arrangement that hasn’t changed for over ninety years demonstrates their value for tradition and the preservation of culture. I would argue that it was perceived as a way to honor the school.

I would argue that the purpose of collegiate a cappella hasn’t changed, but rather, it has been grown. Collegiate a cappella groups now, in the 21^st century, still up hold the traditions of the school and past members while honoring the college. However now, many collegiate a cappella groups focus more on competing, being known, and networking with other colleges and their a cappella groups. One of many competitions that these groups compete in is the ICCAs (International Competition for Collegiate A Cappella) (Tilsley). In this competition, groups are judged on their arrangement, the accompanied dance movements, the musicality, and over song. These groups include more intricate details into the arrangement while making certain musical choices to please the judges. In the 21^st century, collegiate a cappella is perceived as both a way to honor and uphold the school a long with it’s traditions, as well as a way to compete for recognition and reputation.

BARBERSHOP-QUARTET A CAPPELLA

Barbershop quartets were starting to become popular in the 1910’s to 1930’s. (Liscomb 2013) This can be one of the most simplistic styles of a cappella. This style of a cappella consists of a four-part harmony. An example of this is The Flat Foot Four; this is a barbershop-styled a cappella quartet that was popular in the 1940’s. Barbershop-styled a cappella often includes more bouncy beats. Chords aren’t sung as legato as in older collegiate a cappella but rather more staccato when the tempo picks up. In The Flat Foot Four’s Annie Laurie, the tempo is very inconsistent. The style of this focuses more on the simplistic chord progression with fast paced sections mixed into the whole arrangement (Annie Laurie ~ The Flat Foot Four 1940).

This use of staccato is very prevalent in The Chordette’s Mr. Sandman. This 1958 classic was more known for its intricate and short paced staccato introduction of the arrangement. While its often accompanied, the arrangement itself was created in a very a cappella fashion with four part harmonies and melodic tunes. Like Annie Laurie, Mr. Sandman has a bouncy beat that carries it through to the end of the song. The difference between the two songs is that the older one, Annie Laurie, focuses more on the chords and harmonies, while the more recent one, Mr. Sandman, includes more detailed melodies to accompany the harmonies. While the older collegiate a cappella group’s (ex. The Whiffenpoofs) purpose was to both entertain and uphold the traditions of the school, the purpose of these barbershop a cappella arrangements was to solely entertain and create this intricately arranged melodic tunes.

INFLUENCES: WHY IS IT POPULAR NOW?

A key influence in the increased commercialization of a cappella careers is the advanced social media. I would argue that one of the biggest contributors in this is the video sharing website, YouTube. YouTube is a ten-year-old company that was created in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim (Fitzpatrick). Before, a cappella groups had to achieve a certain level of fame and popularity to be put on TV or shown in public to a large number of audience members.  This hindered the rate of growth for these groups and it meant having a slower start in getting noticed. One of the reasons for increased popularity can be attributed to the growth of social media and the growth of YouTube. YouTube has allowed groups to share and promote their music. In a matter of minutes, groups can have their music online and shared to the World Wide Web. With over a billion users and more than 300 hours of video content uploaded per minute, groups can easily share their music to the public. This enables these groups to connect and network with other musicians and increase the rate of their success. Other social media sights that have impacted the growth of not just a cappella, but the music industry as a whole, are Sound Cloud, Facebook, Vine, and Tumblr (among so many others). Musicians have more opportunities to share their music and have their arrangements spread to more and more people with the use and influence of increased social media.  If we compare The Chordettes with Pentatonix, the influence of social media is evident. The Chordettes were organized in 1946, however their biggest hit wasn’t until 1954 when they released Mr. Sandman. With limited social networking outlets, it took The Chordetters nearly ten years to reach the peak of their careers. Pentatonix got their fame from winning NBC’s The Sing Off in 2011. Within four years, they have sold over two million copies of their albums; they have had over nine hundred million views and eight million subscribers on YouTube; and they have gone on multiple tours around the world (Pentatonix). There is a distinct difference in the success rate of the two groups. Social media has exponentially increased the amount of opportunities for the entertainment industry.

Another influence on the increased commercialization of an a cappella career is television and multimedia. A Cappella really grew tremendously with the release of Fox’s Glee, NBC’s The Sing Off, and the entire Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 franchise. I would argue that the dramatization of a cappella in TV shows and movies increased people’s interest in a cappella. With the national broadcast of shows like Glee and The Sing Off, more people are exposed to a cappella. While Glee re-introduced the concept of a cappella and popularized it, The Sing Off showcased real-life talent and the increasing fame of groups all over the country. These shows could’ve provided encouragement for real-life a cappella groups to pursue it full-time. The increased popularity of a cappella could’ve partially stemmed from the success of real a cappella groups nation-wide. They influenced the increase in the commercialization of a cappella group by making their shows relatable and show casing realistic talent and realistic goals that can be achieved with dedication and hard work.

CONCLUSION

A cappella was originally seen as music sung only in the church. It was seen as a way to worship God without the distractions that accompaniment can create and its sole purpose was to praise their deity. A cappella later evolved into different genres and different branches of music. Barbershop and Doo Wop Quartets carried bouncy, upbeat, and intricate tempos in order to entertain their audience. Collegiate a cappella varied in musicality, tempo, and dynamics depending on the decade and time frame. The purpose of these collegiate a cappella groups shifted from honoring and preserving the traditions of the school to gaining recognition, while entertaining the student and honoring the traditions of the school and alumni group members. Over the decades, the purpose, characteristics, and perception of a cappella music has shifted and it has lead to its growing popularity in social media and commercialization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fayette, Mike, “Whiffenpoofs 2012 – ‘The Whiffenpoof Song’ – Track 14 – Parents Weekend 2011”. Video. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maFusrwcp58

Fitzpatrick, Laura, “Brief History YouTube”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1990787,00.html

Liscomb, M, “A Brief History of A Cappella”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://resource.takelessons.com/a-brief-history-of-a-cappella

Pentatonix, “Bio”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://ptxofficial.com/bio

Tilsley, Alexandra, “The Right Notes”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/10/09/collegiate-cappella-singers-discuss-pitch-perfect-and-culture-their-craft

Tolentino, J.C., “The History of A cappella”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://www.ehow.com/about_5175510_history-cappella.html

Unknown, “Annie Laurie ~ The Flat Foot Four 1940”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7cuNCMV3h0

Warner, Jay,“The Chordettes”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/the_chordettes.html

Wyse, Eric, “The Power and Purpose of A Cappella Singing in Congregational Song”. Retrieved April, 2015 Available: http://worshipedia.org/node/1558/