Sixth Grade
Worksheets
A Rich Musical Heritage
Music is a part of everyday life. So many things feature music of one kind or another. Television shows have theme songs. Commercials have jingles. Movies have big soundtracks. You can listen to music on the radio. You can listen to it on the Internet. You can listen to it on your MP3 player. African-Americans have had a big part in making most of that music.
Most of the first Africans in America came as slaves. They had to leave their homes. They had to leave their families. They had to leave almost everything. One thing they could bring with them was their music. Music was a very important part of their lives.
Many African slaves made music as part of their new life in America. This kind of music was different from the music of the Europeans. It had strong, syncopated rhythms. It had melodies that seemed unusual to many Europeans. For many years, the music of slaves was ignored.
