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Black women and their melodic inspiration and remonstration have been a strong, riveting and constant soundtrack in response to pain, struggle and oppression, as far back as Africa, according to Tammy Kernodle, PhD, distinguished professor of music at Miami (Ohio) University in Oxford and president of the Society for American Music. 

Kernodle discussed “Black Women, Black Music and the Mythology of Post-Racism in the Age of Obama” during the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s virtual programming event on Thursday, March 4 that celebrated both Black History and Women’s History Months.  

“My work looks at the cultural and musical significance of Black women activists and artists in terms of developing and promoting the public ideologies that have surrounded the fight for civil rights and racial justice in America,” explained Kernodle. “It reaches back to some of the earliest ways in which Black women engage music as a form of protest, and as a narrative of resistance that goes through different genres.” 

The music professor focused on artists Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Rhiannon Giddens. “They are part of a larger genealogy of Black women artists/activists who have been involved in the ritualized work of mediating Black communal trauma and pain.” 

But first, Kernodle turned to the Obama administration and unpacked the mythology of post-racialism, embraced and promoted by the conservative right and the progressive left. 

“There were continuous conversations during (President Barack) Obama’s administration, that in some way, he represented an end to America’s political and racial tribalism,” she said, “and how it was underscored by an ideology centered around color blindness.” 

According to Kernodle, color blindness was the justification for challenging and undermining racial equality and social change. On the subject, she quotes critical race scholar George Lipsitz, “Color blindness recontextualizes the issue of equity and inclusion. It pretended that racial recognition, rather than racist policies and rules, was the problem that needed to be solved.” 

The professor then segued into how music became a way in which notions of color blindness and post-racialism was disrupted and decentralized during the age of Obama, as his presidency was being marked by moments of racialized violence and overt policing. 

For instance, Kernodle acknowledged, the acquittal of George Zimmerman, and the killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, George Floyd and others erupted into artistic reactions from those seizing the time to use their art to speak to and illuminate injustice. 

• In the summer of 2014 in Ferguson, Mo., 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally wounded by a white police officer. In response to Brown’s killing, singer and rapper Hill released the protest song, “Black Rage.” Hill had first penned the song as a poem she performed in live sets, as early as 2012. “Black Rage” melodically, thematically and harmonically drew on the song, “My Favorite Things” from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, “The Sound of Music.” The artist produced the song largely in her living room, with her children heard playing in background. 

• Likewise, artist/activist Keys, inspired and outraged by racialized injustice of the times, responded by issuing her song “We Gotta Pray,” via her YouTube channel in the summer of 2014. Earlier, Keys released the socially-conscious song, “We Are Here” and started a foundation by the same name, whose goal is to eradicate global poverty. 

• On June 17, 2015 at Mother Emanuel AME Church, a white gunman killed nine Blacks after sitting with them during Bible study. Struck by the carnage and motivated by a spirit of outrage, Giddens coalesced her anger and sadness into the song, “Cry No More.” Before then, Gidden had written a song in 2013 to unite women, “We Rise.” It is one of the songs on the protest album, “We Are Not for Sale,” by the NC Music Love Army. 

“The work of these Black women and others,” concluded Kernodle, “represents a willingness to simultaneously remind America of its historical record of trauma, while pushing it forward toward hope and progression that one day, this country will reflect the core values outlined in the Constitution.” 

With a focus on empowering people and strengthening communities, the SIUE East St. Louis Center is dedicated to improving the lives of families and individuals—from pre-school through adult—in the Metro East region. The Center offers programs that give the community renewed hope and an opportunity to reach educational, career and life goals. It does so by providing comprehensive programs, services and training in the areas of education, health, social services and the arts. 

Photo:
Tammy Kernodle, PhD, distinguished professor of music at Miami (Ohio) University in Oxford and president of the Society for American Music.