To be able to laugh, to say what’s on one’s mind, expressing feelings of disgust and rage, was liberating for blacks, who usually remained silent, hat in hand and head bowed in the presence of whites. As Albert Murray put it, the blues was nothing but “a disposition to confront the most unpromising circumstances and make the most of what little there is to go on, regardless of the odds.”[34] The blues expressed a feeling, an existential affirmation of joy in the midst of extreme suffering, especially the ever-present threat of death by lynching.
