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Slave Songs
Slave songs, also known as spirituals, were songs that african Americans sang while they were working. They were used to let the plantationowners know where they were and also as code between eachother. Slave songs became an important culture aspect amongst enslaved Americans -
Minstrel Shows
The minstrel show was a form of entertainment consisting of skits, dancing, and music. The shows were performed by white people with colored faces to represent blacks in the shows
Minstrel shows mocked black people as ignorant, lazy, and musical. -
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance is a comedic opera that premiered in New York City in 1879. The opera was based on Frederic who is indentured to a band of pirates until he turns 21. -
Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry was born on February 27, 1848 and became famous as a composer in America beginning in the early 1880's. One of his most notable pieces is "Jerusalem". -
La Mascotte
This opera originated in France but was translated into english and performed in a theatre in New York City. -
Barnum and Bailey's Circus
This circus was originally separate being competitors but merged in 1881 to create the Barnum and Bailey circus. -
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers was an opera that debuted in 1889. At its time it was considered the fifth longest running musical in history. -
Ragtime Implosion
Ragtime became popular in the United States at this time. Its popularity peaked in the early 1900's. P{ictured is Scott Joplin who became a famous rag time composer of his age. -
Kinetograph
This invention enabled the projection of film onto a screen that lead the revolution into motion pictures. The first public film ever screened was the blacksmith scene. -
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
This show was a mixture of indians, cowboys, and various western livestock that exagerated the "wonders" of the "Wild West". -
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was born on november 6, 1854. Sousa soon became the master of marches. One of the most notable is "Stars and Stripes Forever". -
Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington is Born on this day. He, like Louis Armstrong, would go on to be a major forerunner of jazz and big band music. -
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong is born on this day. Armstrong would later go on to lead the way In Jazz and Big Band Music. -
Propaganda Films
Starting in 1914, many movies were made that aroused feelings of support for the allies, and Anti-Central Powers feelings. Some of these movies were, "The Kaiser, the Beast Of Berlin," which was a silent movie that told of Kaiser Wilhelm's greed, and, "America Goes Over," which told the stories of the A.E.F. in Europe. -
"Over There"
Written By George M. Cohan while traveling on a train in Germany, this song became A very popular patriotic tune during Both World Wars. -
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The Jazz Age
After the End of World War 1, Jazz music became very popular throughout the United States. -
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The Harlem Renaissance
A time period of great cultural strides for African Americans accross the country. -
The Warner Brothers
Jack, Harry, Albert, and Sam Warner Found the Warner Brothers Film Companie. -
The Charleston
A dance created in the 1920s that showsed how much more free willed and loose the people of the 1920s had become. -
The First "Talkie"
Founded by Warner Brothers, the first non Silent Film is created, titled "The Jazz Singer." -
Johnny Cash
Johnny cash was born on february 26, 1932 and died recently in 2003. Cash is called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century along with the beatles, Elvis Presley and others. Cash played in many odd venues such as prisons and was essentially a rockabilly artist. -
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley was born on January 8th, 1935 and is considered the King of Rock and Roll. He was born in Mississippi and merged African American rythymns, country, and bluegrass. Presley had a versatile voice and embraced many different genres of music and was and remains one of the most popular musical artists of all time. -
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Rise of the PLaywright
in the 1950's many playwrights and productions became popular and changed the face of theatre. Tennessee Williams wrote "A Streetcar Named Desire", Arthur Miller produced "The Crucible and Lorraine hansberry scripted "A Raisin in the Sun". these are just a few of the notable playwrights and their plays. -
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Rockabilly Music
This was a new form of music with jazz and southern black influences mixed together to form a new sound unlike any before. Carl Perkins is one of the prevalent rockabilly revolutionaries and combined his rockabilly with R&B and country. -
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FM Radio
FM radio was a new form of radio that was introduced in the 50's and became much more popular in the 60's. The FM radio was introduced into almost all new Radios and became the prevalent radio signal choice. -
I Love Lucy
This show began in 1951 and was a huge success as a TV sitcom. It was the first show to be filmed on 35 mm film in front of a live audience. "I Love Lucy was the most watched show for four of its six seasons and followed the life of LUcy who is disastorous in her actions and creates adventures out of normal daily routines. -
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
the adventures of ozzie and harriet began in 1952 on radio broadcasts and was later brought to tv where it continued its great success in entertainment. The show embraced family life in the suburbs and portrayed as peaceful and gay. The show lasted until September 1966. -
Hollywood Blacklist
Hollywood became an extreme target for communist "cleansing" and accusations for fear of entertainment instiling communist ideas into the American public. Many actors, screenwriters, and directors were blacklisted because of communist ties here are five because of lack of space in the description. Alvah Bessie, screenwriter
Herbert Biberman, screenwriter and director
Lester Cole, screenwriter
Edward Dmytryk, director
Ring Lardner Jr., screenwriter -
Leave it to Beaver
This show began in April 1957 and followed the character Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver around his life at home, school and in the neighborhood. This was one of the first sitcoms written in a child's point of view . -
Elvis is Back!
Elvis returned from the war in 1960 and made an extremely popular return to the music world and produced muliple hit singles and albums that would become some of his most popular in history. He returned in 1960 after being honorably discharged as a seargent from the armed forces. -
Camelot
This musical began in 1960 and was the most popular musical LP album for 60 straight weeks. The play was based off of King Arthur's Camelot and was very popular at the time. -
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Psychadelic Rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom. -
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966. The show portrayed 2 families in the stoneage and spoofed the honeymooners. It was extremely popular. -
Oliver!
Oliver was a play based on a young boy who escapes an orphanage and joins a group of young pickpockets. The play has been revived multiple times in London and on Broadway and was also turned into a film that was very popular. This is one of Charles Dickens first major novels to be turned into successful plays. -
American Bandstand
American Bandstand was a television show hosted by Dick Clark that featured the Top 40 songs of the time and viewed teenagers dancing to the songs and an occasional live appearance of one of the artists. This was a very popular show in the younger generations of the 1950's and 1960's as it grew in popularity -
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff who complicates life with an incompetent deputy and bad company. -
The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock -
Hair
The musical Hair went on Broadway in April of 1968. It was inspired by the counter cultural revolution of the 1960's. The show was controversial in the appearance of drugs and strong sexual content and contained a nude scene. the play lasted for 1,750 performaces on broadway. -
Woodstock
Woodstock was a three day event in Bethel, New York. It was a conert that inspired peace and unity and featured many bands and musical artists such as Jimi Hendrix, the grateful dead, The Who, and Santana. It had been estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 people would attend but in actuality the event hosted more than 500,000 people and was a major hippie gathering and peace event.
