(September 28, 2022) “All My Black” is a song about centering Black history and giving an accurate account of the nation’s history and the central role that African Americans played in making that history. The song, released by a group called Stokes & the Machine and featuring the vocals of Algebra along with the muted trumpet of Lin Rountree, drops at a time when art, history and politics intersect and increasingly bang against each other.
For a moment it appeared that the nation was prepared to confront the contradiction between its ideals that all men being equal, and the treatment meted out to Black people. However, those who understand the sweep of history understand that we’ve encountered similar moments the American past know that such seemingly transformational moments are eventually met with a massive backlash.
(September 28, 2022) “All My Black” is a song about centering Black history and giving an accurate account of the nation’s history and the central role that African Americans played in making that history. The song, released by a group called Stokes & the Machine and featuring the vocals of Algebra along with the muted trumpet of Lin Rountree, drops at a time when art, history and politics intersect and increasingly bang against each other.
For a moment it appeared that the nation was prepared to confront the contradiction between its ideals that all men being equal, and the treatment meted out to Black people. However, those who understand the sweep of history understand that we’ve encountered similar moments the American past know that such seemingly transformational moments are eventually met with a massive backlash.
Reactionaries in the 1960s responded to calls for equal rights by electing Richard Nixon and their ideological heirs in the 21st Century determined that the best way to prevent students of history to learn about the country’s full history is to ban books and legislate what those students are taught. Book banning and curriculum restrictions have hit schools in nearly every state.
The history that these reactionaries endorse seeks to excise the stories found in books such as “The 1619 Project,” and “All My Black” is a call for Black people to fully embrace that history. “All My Black” Is sleek jam that incorporates elements of jazz and R&B into a song that stands as a powerful anthem and a reminder that Black history is American history. It’s a message that
Stokes & the Machine hope will be further elevated during awards season, as they have submitted “All My Black” to be considered for a Grammy Award in the new Song for Social Change Category. Check out “All My Black” here.
By Howard Dukes