Rather than lose faith or be held down, African Americans congregated on their own, raising their voices to praise God as well as ask Him to give them strength and courage to press on through the trials and tribulations of the harsh lives they were living. Gospel music in conjunction with strong, rhythmic beats, actually is the main ingredient to the recipe for R&B music. In fact, Jerry Wexler said in an interview: ".it probably should have been rhythm and gospel because rhythm and blues is based far more on gospel changes than on blues changes" (Fox 126). It was because of these deep cultural roots that R&B music was first termed "Race Music." .
"Race Music" began before World War II and was just what the title implies- race music: for black people. It was largely unheard by the white population, and received virtually no air-play on radios. As pointed out in the About.Com article Soul to Spare, "Race Music" was mainly heard in black-only bars and clubs of Chicago's South Side. This brand of R&B was commonly called Chicago Blues. Chicago Blues was typically played loudly by a small group with electric guitar, harmonica, electric bass, electric piano and drums. The melody and vocals drew heavily on rural blues with a strong dance-oriented rhythm. This style of Chicago Blues originated in the forties, and lasted well into the fifties ("Soul to Spare").
For all races and ethnicities, music serves as a form of expression and as a definition of an individual's identity. In his article The Consumption of Music and the Expression of VALUES, Wilfred Dolfsma agrees, saying: "By consuming.music, people want to express who they are, to which group they belong, what their identity is" (Dolfsma 53). African Americans struggled to find their place among white society. Unfortunately, due to the extreme segregation of the times, blacks couldn't identify with the white culture all around them- the white culture that hated them.