TheROOTS : Bridging the Gap Between Africa, Minstrelsy and Hip Hop

Abstract

TheROOTS: Bridging the Gap between Afi"ica, Minstrelsy and Hip Hop IS a thesis project written to look at the effects minstrelsy had on the early development of black dance in the United States, to pay tribute to Professor Sterling Stuckey's research on "slave culture," and the African-based tradition of the "Ring Shout," which is performed in the Southern United States, as well as examine the contributions that African American, Jamaican, Afro-Brazilian and Puerto Rican culture, dance and music had on the early development of hip hop. The root of Hip Hop shows how artistic movements can be a vehicle for social change, cultural identity and passive/aggressive resistance against oppression.