[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 105 (Tuesday, July 14, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H8043-H8045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CELEBRATING BLACK MUSIC MONTH

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 476) celebrating the 30th anniversary of June as 
``Black Music Month,'' as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 476

       Whereas in 1979, the month of June was proclaimed ``Black 
     Music Month'' and all people in the United States were 
     encouraged to learn more about the important role that 
     African-American artists have played in shaping history and 
     culture;
       Whereas America's rich heritage is influenced by the 
     diversity of its people and the important contributions of 
     Black culture;
       Whereas America's cultural story is heavily influenced by 
     the celebration and struggle of Black people through their 
     musical expression;
       Whereas many genres of music, such as gospel, jazz, blues, 
     rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and soul that were an 
     integral part of American culture, trace their roots back to 
     the banks of the Mississippi River in cities like Memphis, 
     St. Louis, New Orleans, and other cities like Kansas City and 
     Chicago;
       Whereas the amount of musical talent and skill that came 
     from the Mississippi Delta and the myriad of towns in this 
     region is undeniable;
       Whereas these genres of music illustrate the complexities 
     of the African-American experience and they give a voice to 
     many social movements and inspiration to countless 
     generations of people in the United States;
       Whereas as early as the 1860s, the ragtime artist Scott 
     Joplin broadened the operatic and classical worlds and Black 
     traveling brass bands trekked to Beale Street in Memphis, 
     ``Home of the Blues and Birthplace of Rock and Roll'', to 
     perform;
       Whereas gospel music and its artists like Thomas Dorsey, 
     Lucy Campbell, Dr. Herbert Brewster, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha 
     Franklin, Shirley Caesar, and Kirk Franklin are a special 
     part of the American tradition that spawned future musical 
     genres;
       Whereas the mid-20th Century saw the emergence of 
     groundbreaking jazz and blues artists such as W.C. Handy, 
     Bessie Smith, Lena Horne, Charlie Parker, Lionel Hampton, Max 
     Roach, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King 
     Cole, Miles Davis, Etta James, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, 
     Thelonious Monk, Wynton Marsalis, Louis Armstrong, Professor 
     Longhair, James Booker, the Neville Brothers, Muddy Waters, 
     Albert King and B.B. King;
       Whereas conductor and producer Quincy Jones was heavily 
     influenced by the improvisational nature of jazz performed in 
     Harlem by Sarah Vaughn, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie;
       Whereas multifaceted Harry Belafonte expanded the African 
     Diaspora's music by introducing calypso to America; Odetta,

[[Page H8044]]

     known as the voice of the Civil Rights Movement, had a 
     powerful musical repertoire; Sammy Davis, Jr. impressed the 
     world as crooner and a renowned entertainer; and Ray Charles, 
     ``The Genius'', consolidated gospel, country, and blues music 
     to influence rock and roll music and help to create soul 
     music;
       Whereas legends like James Brown, Bo Diddley, and Little 
     Richard helped the transition from blues to rock & roll music 
     with ease, Tina Turner riveted sold out audiences 
     domestically and abroad, and Jimi Hendrix created a new 
     musical form;
       Whereas Jackie Brentson, Howlin' Wolf, The Staple Singers, 
     Otis Redding, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Al Green, Willie 
     Mitchell, Johnny Taylor, Isaac Hayes, and songwriter David 
     Porter combined to place more than 167 hit songs in the 
     Billboard Top 10 Pop charts and a staggering 243 hits in the 
     Top 100 R&B charts at Sun Studios, Hi Records, and Stax 
     Records in Memphis;
       Whereas Stax, dubbed ``Soulsville USA'', had a 
     revolutionary sound that earned eight Grammys and an Oscar;
       Whereas the Motown empire attracted creative individuals 
     such as Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops, Holland Dozier 
     Holland, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin 
     Gaye, The Jacksons, and Stevie Wonder to Detroit;
       Whereas Hitsville USA produced an astonishing amount of Top 
     100 hits that spanned over three decades and by the 1970s was 
     the largest independent record company in the world;
       Whereas by the 1970s and 80s, new genres of music emerged 
     in the form of funk, rhythm and blues, hip hop, and rap in 
     cities across the country including Los Angeles, 
     Philadelphia, New York City, and Atlanta;
       Whereas African-American music illustrates exceptional 
     musicianship;
       Whereas African-American composers, writers, singers, 
     instrumentalists, and producers are at the top of many charts 
     and in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, 
     and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;
       Whereas African-American music embodies an original 
     expression of the human experience by entertaining, 
     inspiring, and stirring countless people in the United States 
     and around the world; and
       Whereas June 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of ``Black 
     Music Month'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives celebrates the 
     goals and ideals of ``Black Music Month''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Watson) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Westmoreland) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.


                             General Leave

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform, I present H. Res. 476 for consideration. This resolution 
expresses our support for the goals and the ideals of Black Music 
Month.
  H. Res. 476 was introduced by my colleague, Representative Steve 
Cohen of Tennessee, on May 21, 2009, and reported out of the Oversight 
Committee by unanimous consent on June 18, 2009. Additionally, this 
resolution enjoys the support of nearly 70 Members, of which I am 
included.
  Mr. Speaker, as we celebrated Black Music Month this past June, I 
thought of the impact African American music has had on American 
culture. Both socially and artistically, Black music is one of the most 
interesting trends in American history. African American music finds 
its roots in the slave culture of the rural South of the United States. 
Blues and gospel music comes from the plantation songs of slaves. As 
Blacks moved north into cities such as Memphis and St. Louis, Chicago 
and Detroit in the early parts of the 20th century, the music 
transitioned and became urbanized. Blues became jazz and combined with 
gospel music to form soul.
  It was not until the post-World War II era that mainstream America 
began to feel the effects of Black music when musical geniuses such as 
Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Louis Jordan, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Bo 
Diddley, Little Richard and countless others began to play on the 
radio.
  In the 1960s, soul music and rhythm and blues crossed over Black 
music further into the mainstream. Black music legends such as James 
Brown and Berry Gordy's Detroit Motown machine and Jimi Hendrix let the 
world know that Black music was a force to be reckoned with.
  As Black music moved into the 1970s and 1980s, it took new forms. 
Disco, rap, and a new form of rhythm and blues would produce modern-era 
musical geniuses, such as the greatest entertainer of all time who just 
recently passed, Michael Jackson. Other musical greats, like George 
Clinton; Prince; and Kurtis Blow; Earth, Wind & Fire; and a host of 
others also helped Black music grow to phenomenal levels.
  So what is the impact of Black music? The impact of Black music most 
notably is it told mainstream America that it is okay to express your 
feelings and your emotions as you see them. Black music informed 
America what was going on in African American communities, and it broke 
barriers that allowed Black people to further integrate into American 
society.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I want to urge all of my colleagues to support the 
30th anniversary of Black Music Month.
  I reserve the remainder of my time.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  American music reflects the culturally diverse heritage of the United 
States. It is almost impossible to envision American music without 
recognizing the influence and contributions from African Americans. The 
roots of Black music can be traced to the Mississippi Delta and cities 
such as New Orleans, Chicago, and Kansas City. The great State of 
Georgia has offered music greats such as Ray Charles, Otis Redding, 
Gladys Knight, and James Brown, among many others. They have 
illustrated the personal experiences through their music, thus 
inspiring millions of fans and countless generations of Americans.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this resolution 
celebrating the 30th anniversary of June as Black Music Month.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, we will yield as much time as he needs to 
our distinguished Member from Tennessee, Representative Steve Cohen.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the distinguished 
Representative from California (Ms. Watson) for the time.
  H. Res. 476 celebrates the 30th anniversary of Black Music Month. It 
was first introduced by President Jimmy Carter, and President Carter 
recognized the influence--I guess, the Waldons kind of helped President 
Carter get going in Georgia, in Macon, Georgia, and of course that was 
James Brown, and there were a whole lot of folks there that Jimmy 
Carter was impressed with and the Allman Brothers, too, but he 
certainly was a James Brown guy in Georgia.

                              {time}  1345

  I was at an event this weekend, Mr. Speaker, in Memphis at Anthony F. 
Elmore's home honoring African culture, and there was a gentleman who 
played the drums at the beginning of the presentation. And after he 
finished he made a comment. He said, Without Africa, there would not be 
a beat. There wouldn't be a beat.
  And I thought about that and I thought about this resolution and 
realized that he was correct. The beat's what it's about, a lot of 
folks believe. It's what makes music what it is or rock and roll or 
blues or jazz. A lot of times, I mean it's lyrics and so many things, 
but the beat's what it is, and that's what's unique about this 
contribution to music is the beat.
  It came from the Mississippi River. It came from the Delta. Memphis 
is the home of the blues and the birthplace of rock and roll. It's my 
hometown, and St. Louis had the blues, too. W.C. Handy was from Memphis 
and a great innovator, and he spent time in both Memphis and in St. 
Louis. And then if you spin off a little bit to Kansas City, Charlie 
Parker, who was really the father of bebop and jazz, and Kansas City, 
where they've got a jazz museum, and he got a special kind of music 
going and went to New York with Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach and some 
other jazz greats and brought a jazz form that I guess had its roots 
not only in Kansas City, but also in New Orleans with Louis Armstrong 
and James Booker, who was such a great keyboard performer and gave 
birth to folks like Professor Longhair that tickled the

[[Page H8045]]

ivories in a special manner that's the New Orleans style. It's really a 
gumbo of music that comes out of New Orleans with the Neville Brothers, 
the Marsalis family and Louis Armstrong, who did such a special music 
out of New Orleans.
  It all emanated from the Delta, and it came from--whether it be 
gospel, as Ms. Watson commented, or blues, it evolved and brought about 
a new art form.
  In Memphis, we had Stax Records, where Otis Redding from Georgia came 
to record his music. Isaac Hayes, my good friend and who was a chief in 
Ghana and passed just about a year ago this month, produced Shaft, and 
he took a special experience to Los Angeles with the Watts Music 
Festival. And Isaac Hayes was performance art and just beyond music. He 
was a unique individual who took a certain style and a certain music. 
Isaac never knew how to read music but he knew how to write it and 
produce it, and he was a genuine American, unique musician and hero.
  Isaac Hayes came out of Memphis, the Bar-Kays and so many people out 
of Stax Records. There was also Hi Records in Memphis where Willie 
Mitchell produced Al Green. And Memphis is very proud of its musical 
heritage, which is preserved in the Stax Soulful Music where the Stax 
Records were on McLemore, and at the same time there was Motown in 
Detroit with Stevie Wonder and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and the 
Supremes and on and on and on.
  Memphis and Detroit both are very proud of our musical traditions and 
histories, and we support those; Memphis in particular, where Elvis 
Presley was a transformative individual that took an African American 
musical heritage and combined it with some Tennessee country or 
rockabilly and produced rock and roll. And he, like Michael Jackson, 
were crossover figures that had a major influence on American society 
because they told youth that race wasn't an issue. The music got beyond 
race.
  America has had a problem over its history with race, and one thing 
Elvis Presley did is it told a lot of young white people that it was 
cool to shake your leg and to like music and to show some emotion and 
expression. And Michael Jackson showed a lot of people that what he 
produced was fine in different cultures, and it wasn't necessarily one 
race that liked that particular music or another and was a 
transformative effect.
  The reason we celebrate Black Music Month is because of the 
tremendous contributions that this country has received from musicians 
that are African American. And whether it's jazz, whether it's blues, 
whether it's gospel with Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin and other 
people from the pulpit, or whether it's other forms where Nat King Cole 
or Sammy Davis or Lena Horne made such an impression or Marian 
Anderson, it's a particularly special place and it's allowed, I think, 
a transcendent voice for a civil rights movement.
  Harry Belafonte did calypso, a different type of music, but Harry 
Belafonte was strong in the civil rights movement and helping move this 
country forward. And I think there was a lot of African American music 
that helped make the civil rights movement happen and make people 
understand, by identifying with performers in music in ways they 
otherwise could not identify with African Americans because of our 
segregated society, about how wrong it was that segregation existed and 
allow an opportunity for people to see that from a more personal, 
visceral level, and to make this country change and become the more 
perfect union that it needs to become and to live up to the ideals that 
our Founding Fathers had about a society where all men were created 
equal, which really wasn't true for so many years.
  I think music has had a great influence, and black music has had an 
influence on our country that is special, and the reason we honor Black 
Music Month is we remember those ideals and remember these people that 
were creative in our society over the years. Some young people don't 
know about jazz. They don't know about a Lionel Hampton and what he 
could do with a xylophone or some of the other great performers, and we 
need to know that history and revere it.
  I had a dear friend named Warren Zevon who died in 2003. He was a 
folk singer, a rock and roller, but he knew he was going to die. And 
when he was close to death, he talked with a man named Jorge Calderon 
who cowrote with him, and they were talking about dying. And he said to 
him, he said, Warren, it's not bad. He said, You will get to see Miles. 
And here was rock and roll folk singers, and what were they talking 
about was Miles Davis because he transcended music and race. Miles 
Davis, he was something special, and there were so many performers like 
that.
  And that's the reason why it's important that we recognize that 
heritage and that history, what it's meant to America, not just in 
entertainment but in social change, and that's why I'm proud to join 
the 70 cosponsors and to speak in behalf of this resolution and ask 
that we pass H. Res. 476, that we encourage schools and teachers to 
teach the arts, to teach music and to teach this heritage so that 
people understand how music can really move a country and a society 
forward.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, so I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not remention the 
contributions of Michael Jackson, whose passing on June 25, 2009, 
coincided with the June celebration of Black Music Month. Through his 
innovation in the field of music, music video and dance, and subsequent 
global crossover appeal, Mr. Jackson paved the way for generations of 
African American musicians and left an indelible mark on the music 
industry, created a new genre and a new popular culture.
  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 476, 
which celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of Black Music Month.
  Music has long been intertwined with the Black experience, especially 
in the United States. Its roots stretch back to the rhythms of Africa 
which were first brought to the shores of America by our enslaved 
ancestors hundreds of years ago.
  Black music also provided the soundtrack to freedom and the Civil 
Rights Movement. The movement's unofficial anthem, ``We Shall 
Overcome,'' and other Negro spirituals were sung by civil rights 
marchers in churches and on the road from Selma to Montgomery.
  Today, it is almost impossible to imagine a style of contemporary 
music that has not been influenced by Black music. Jazz, gospel, rock 
and roll, rap, hip hop, R&B--all of these styles have become highly 
influential in the United States and across the globe. African American 
composers, writers, singers, instrumentalists, and producers also are 
at the top of many music charts. They have been enshrined in the Gospel 
Music Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall 
of Fame.
  Musicians such as Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles 
were inspired by African American artists like Sam Cooke, Aretha 
Franklin, James Brown, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, 
Smokey Robinson, and others. These talented musicians also have paved 
the way for African American artists today because their music is a 
powerful, multigenerational, and creative force.
  I want to commend Representative Steve Cohen for bringing this 
resolution to the House floor today. Black music in all of its genres 
has both served to instill pride in our culture and bring people of all 
races together to enjoy its powerful rhythms and harmonies. I urge my 
colleagues to support H. Res. 476 on final passage.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 476, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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