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The impact of African American music, composers, and the culture have placed on American society is an assessment that author Ralph Ellison beautifully articulated. He gives glowing tributes to icons such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, acknowledging them as the creators of great entertainment, and amazing importance in the social consciousness of the Black community.

When discussing Ellington, Ellison mentions how through art, Ellington was able to define himself to the popular masses, even though he came from a past of doing Black shows. It serves at to show the double consciousness that is prevalent in the African American culture. Black people are seen as invisible and as outsiders with a special view point on a society that we are part of. When analyzing popular genres of music of Black people, the veil of double consciousness is usually present. It is present at the center of comprehending the process many African American composers who work in-between the veil. Understanding and mixing the musical taste and values of both sides of the veil to create art for all.

A composer, like anyone that makes music, figures out his or her, special reality and makes and new piece of art, and while doing so, helps everyone a bit more conscious of what it truly means to be a person in the fullness of different cultural aspects.