Enslavers denounced Black music as savage while being unable to resist it.

Evidence

Among the duties of the enslaved was the enslavers’ entertainment. Black people were called upon to fiddle and dance for their white owners and their guests. Musicians were loaned out to other enslavers. Eventually, on their days off, they’d take their instruments into town to play and dance for pennies, sometimes for food. White people took in these songs and dances. They considered it “savage,” but that alleged wildness turned them on. A white person could deem Black musicians lowly, subhuman, beyond redemption, while still finding himself helpless to resist their talent. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1100

Categorization

• SHARE: Good for someone interested in the racialized history of American popular music and cultural appropriation.
• CANDY: The paradox — calling music savage while helplessly drawn to it — is a concise, shareable historical irony.