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Her Ancestors Fled to Mexico to Escape Slavery 170 Years Ago. She Still Sings in English.

The oldest living member of the Mascogos still sings songs in a language she doesn't understand.
by Kevin Sieff via Washington Post on April 12, 2019

The Forgotten Story of Pure Hell, America’s First Black Punk Band

The four-piece lived with the New York Dolls and played with Sid Vicious, but they’ve been largely written out of cultural history.
by Cassidy George via Dazed on August 8, 2018
Elvis Presley performing to a crowd of fans reaching toward him

How Christianity Created Rock ’n’ Roll

Rock music owes much of its claim to coolness to the Christian faith.
by David Hajdu via Public Books on June 21, 2018
Leon Bridges singing on stage.

'They Put Us in a Little Box': How Racial Tensions Shape Modern Soul Music

While white Americana singers have infused more soul into their sound, black artists still feel restricted by limited expectations.
by Jon Bernstein via The Guardian on June 13, 2018

Acquitting Elvis of Cultural Appropriation

His groundbreaking rock-n-roll was neither 'thievery' nor 'derivative blackness.'
by David Masciotra via The American Conservative on April 18, 2018

King's Death Gave Birth to Hip-Hop

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. led directly to hip-hop, an era that is often contrasted with his legacy.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on April 8, 2018

Bring the Noize

A search for the source of Southern hip-hop’s magic will always lead you to three men from Atlanta, known to the world as Organized Noize.
by Joycelyn Wilson via The Bitter Southerner on June 27, 2017

Chronicling “America’s African Instrument”

The banjo's history and its symbolism of community, slavery, resistance, and ultimately America itself.
by Laurent Dubois, Stephanie Kingsley via Perspectives on History on June 19, 2017

The Racist Legacy of NYC’s Anti-Dancing Law

The cabaret law—and its prejudicial history—is one of the city's darkest secrets.
by Eli Kerry, Penn Bullock via Vice on March 8, 2017

Strummin’ on the Old Banjo

How an African instrument got a racist reinvention.
by Ben Marks via Collectors Weekly on October 4, 2016
Photograph of Redd Velvet (born Crystal Tucker) who started her career as a classically trained singer.

Keeping The Blues Alive

Is blues music a thing of the past? A festival in Memphis featuring musicians of all ages and nationalities shouts an upbeat answer.
by Touré via Smithsonian Magazine on August 26, 2016
Booker T. Washington writing at a desk.

Toward a Usable Black History

It will help black Americans to recall that they have a history that transcends victimization and exclusion.
by John McWhorter via City Journal on December 23, 2015
Students and teacher talking about homework at Islamic School in Seattle.
partner

Islam and the U.S.

What does it mean to be Muslim in America? And how has the practice of Islam in the U.S. changed over time?
via BackStory on December 18, 2015
Black and white photo of Ornette Coleman.

Seeing Ornette Coleman

Coleman’s approach to improvisation shook twentieth-century jazz. It was a revolutionary idea that sounded like a folk song.
by Taylor Ho Bynum via The New Yorker on June 12, 2015
Musicians and producers around a soundboard listening to a recording.

How Stax Records Set an Example for America

Nelson “Little D” Ross talks soul and significance with music historian Robert Gordon.
by Robert Gordon, Nelson Ross via The Bitter Southerner on February 11, 2014
Circus Sideshow, by Georges Seurat, 1887–88.

Unforgettable

W.E.B. Du Bois on the beauty of sorrow songs.
via Lapham’s Quarterly on January 1, 1903
Art of the Radio Free Dixie Banner

Radio Free Dixie: A Revolutionary Cultural Institution

Sixty-four years after Radio Free Dixie first aired, the show is still a shining example of a truly revolutionary cultural institution.
by John Morrison via Scalawag on August 5, 2025
Ella Jenkins at a School Assembly Service performance, c. 1962.

Ella Jenkins and Sonic Civil Rights Pedagogy

She translated Black freedom movements' ideals into forms that children could enjoy and grasp, nurturing their political consciousness through music-making.
by Gayle F. Wald via Black Perspectives on April 25, 2025
Sheet music for W.C. Handy’s St. Louis Blues, 1925, featuring blue and white images of Louis Armstrong.

Imani Perry’s Blue Notes

Her new book tells the story of Black people through an exploration of the color blue.
by Mychal Denzel Smith via The New Republic on February 5, 2025
Group of people playing various instruments

A Hip-Hop Syllabus—For Fans, By Fans

Reflections on popular books written about hip-hop.
by Brittany Allen via Literary Hub on September 11, 2024
summer campers around a fire
partner

Around the Campfire with Paul Robeson

The history of Camp Wo-Chi-Ca tells a largely overlooked story about left-wing politics and Black culture.
by Nina Silber via HNN on August 6, 2024
Marvin Gaye walking on a basketball court, with players and the crowd behind him.

Marvin’s Last Protest

In 1968 Gaye shifted his musical vision to give voice to impoverished Black urban communities and the rising dissent against involvement in the Vietnam War.
by Mark Anthony Neal via Medium on April 1, 2024
Bottom half of a red sheet music cover with the words "Sung by Aida Overton Walker with the Smart Set Co" written on it with a portrait of Aida to the right

Sheet Music Covers for the Gotham-Attucks Company, ca. 1905–1911

Beginning in 1905, one star-studded song-publishing company would push the aesthetic limits of how Black popular music was shown to the public.
by Dorothy Berry via The Public Domain Review on February 1, 2024
Vinyl disc of "Love, Love, Love" by Ted Jarrett

The Black Songwriter Who Took Nashville by Storm

Before Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” won song of the year at the CMAs, hit maker Ted Jarrett’s music topped the country charts.
by Robert M. Marovich via Zócalo Public Square on January 31, 2024
original

Remembering Slavery

At museums and historic sites throughout the American South, a fuller and more complex picture of slavery is finally taking shape.
by Ed Ayers on January 8, 2024
DC Map

Fifty Years Of Home Rule In Washington, DC

After Congress robbed Washingtonians of local and federal representation, decades of activism -- slowed by racist opposition -- finally succeeded in 1973.
via The Metropole on December 20, 2023
Shirley Horn in a publicity shot, 1960.

How to Take It Slow

Following the rhythm of Shirley Horn.
by Lauren Du Graf via Oxford American on December 5, 2023
Musical notation and a drawing of a barbed wire fence.

The Musical Legacy of a Mississippi Prison Farm

The new album “Some Mississippi Sunday Morning” collects gospel songs recorded inside a notorious penitentiary.
by Hanif Abdurraqib via The New Yorker on October 2, 2023
An uncredited performer with a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys in Give Me Some Skin (1946).

Jammin’ in the Panoram

During World War II, proto–music videos called “soundies” blared pop patriotism from visual jukeboxes across American bars.
by J. Hoberman via New York Review of Books on September 2, 2023

The Disciplining Power of Disappointment

A new book argues that American politics are defined by unfulfilled desire.
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor via The New Yorker on August 11, 2023
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