Abstract Throughout the struggles of slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation, African Americans were able to remain identifiable as a race by preserving certain valuable cultural elements within their music. The purpose of this research paper will examine and reveal examples of the continuous influence of African culture on the evolution of African American music. Systematically, with each era of societal oppression, each generation of African American musicians, birthed a new genre of musical genius. The correlation between the musical roots and the African heritage of African Americans, defined the artistic foundation of each musical style. So much of the music’s lyrical content embraced change but also expressed the realities of the African American’s life experiences. The research in this paper will highlight examples of how the unique choral techniques within Spirituals and Worksongs, the call-and-response verses of the Blues and the improvised melodies and harmonies of Jazz are all distinct characteristics of traditional African music. From Whence We Came Shackled and chained together and corralled on a ship, native Africans watched as the shore of their homeland disappeared into the horizon with each wave of the ocean. Forced to leave behind family and material possessions, they bought with them the one thing that white Americans could not destroy: the sounds of home. They still held onto the sound of an approaching animal’s footsteps, the timing of the wind blowing through the trees but more importantly the sound of the tribal drums. Slave owners removed the drum from the daily lives of these first generation African slaves once “the connection between drumming, communication and resistance was made. The subsequent ban on African drums and drumming contributed to the slaves’ cultural disorientation by weakening ties to the music that had filled their African existence.”[CITATION Sul01 p 22 l 1033 ] The plantations of the South were far from the physical homeland of Africa where drums communicated messages like Morse code. Now, the sounds and rhythms of the drums would have to come from within and begin to communicate a whole new language on this new continent. The ear would become trained to feel as well as hear. It proved more trustworthy than the eye, as the slaves would soon learn and use to their advantage. Spirituals and Worksongs “Because of the team-type plantation work of the south, African Americans created many worksongs. Worksongs of the new world preserved many Africanisms.”[ CITATION Law11 l 1033 ] Some slave worksongs had harmonies almost identical to Congolese and Yoruba traditional music. Lawrence-McIntyre concluded the superb musical quality of the African American slave’s worksong reflected the Mississippi style and true African traits, particularly the rough voice timbre and the overlapping leader and chorus.[ CITATION Law11 l 1033 ] John Henry was another popular worksong that used a “hollar” back response. Hollar back worksongs were created for the specific purpose of guiding and instructing a group of slaves to work together, almost in unison, to follow the rhythm of the leader’s hollar and to time the swing of their hammers back and forth. The slaves responded with a grunt as the hammer struck the wood or spike. A version of this song has survived to become the poetic lyrics of an American folk ballad and is often taught as a period piece to many grade school children in music class. A spiritual work-song was sung by everyone in the field like a choir singing a chorus. To the unsuspecting slave masters, slaves working in the fields singing Steal Away held a biblical sentiment but to the slave toiling in the field, the song communicated there would be a planned escape happening that night. In the old Ne