“CASTLES MADE OF SAND”: MUSICIANS WITH COMPLEX RACIAL IDENTIFICATIONS IN MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN SOCIETY

Abstract

In the mid-twentieth century, musicians with complex racial identification due to family backgrounds of multiple ethnicities and apparent racial ambiguity did not fit neatly into the existing racial power structure. As time progressed, the rising power of social movements, especially the Civil Rights and Black Power movements as well as an entertainment market of increasing complexity and reach, gave these musicians increased opportunities to wield their complexity as a tool for more expansive artistic expression and social critique. They also struggled, however, with the pressures that came with the exoticization and commodification of their personas. How these musicians dealt with these forces is suggestive about transformations in the racial order and entertainment market of the United States.