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How The Hutchinson Family Singers Achieved Pop Stardom with an Anti-Slavery Anthem

"Get Off the Track!" borrowed the melody of a racist hit song and helped give a public voice to the abolitionist movement.
by Tom Maxwell via Longreads on March 7, 2017
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

The Story of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, America's First Black Pop Star

The 19th century singer forced critics and audiences to reconcile their ears with their racism.
by Adam Gustafson via The Conversation on February 7, 2017

“Jingle Bells” History Takes Surprising Turn

A researcher in Boston discovers that the beloved Christmas favorite was first performed in a Boston minstrel hall.
by Joel Brown via BU Today on December 8, 2016

How Rock and Roll Became White

And how the Rolling Stones, a band in love with black music, helped lead the way to rock’s segregated future.
by Jack Hamilton via Slate on October 6, 2016

Strummin’ on the Old Banjo

How an African instrument got a racist reinvention.
by Ben Marks via Collectors Weekly on October 4, 2016

A Hamilton Skeptic on Why the Show Isn’t As Revolutionary As It Seems

"It's still white history. And no amount of casting people of color disguises the fact that they're erasing people of color from the actual narrative."
by Lyra Monteiro, Rebecca Onion via Slate on April 5, 2016

Prayers for Richard

Reflections on the life of Little Richard, the star who mistook a satellite for a ball of fire.
by David Ramsey via Oxford American on December 11, 2015
Jim Crow-era postcard with illustration of a black boy in the jaws of an alligator

How America Bought and Sold Racism, and Why It Still Matters

Today, very few white Americans openly celebrate the horrors of black enslavement—most refuse to recognize the brutal nature of the institution or activ...
by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on November 10, 2015

The Cruel Truth About Rock And Roll

A lifelong fan reflects on how sexual exploitation is part of rock's DNA.
by Ann Powers via NPR on July 15, 2015

The Song That Never Ends: Why Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' Sustains

How the Earth, Wind & Fire hit "September" came into being, and why it continues to unite the generations on the dance floor.
by Dan Charnas via NPR on September 19, 2014

A Little Bit Softer Now, a Little Bit Softer Now…

The gradual decline of the fade-out in popular music.
by William Weir via Slate on September 15, 2014

A Raised Voice

How Nina Simone turned the movement into music.
by Claudia Roth Pierpont via The New Yorker on August 11, 2014
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

The 10 Best Songs About Illegal Immigration

Over the past decade, music devoted to the cause of amnesty for undocumented immigrants has flourished across the U.S.
by Gustavo Arellano via OC Weekly on November 12, 2013
Police car.

The Orchestra

What are the origins of the mechanical siren?
by George Prochnik via Cabinet on March 1, 2011
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
The Young Lords in New York, 1969-1976.

How New York City’s Radical Social Movements Gave Rise to Hip-Hop

The revolutionary history behind one of America’s main musical exports.
by Dean Van Nguyen via Literary Hub on May 6, 2025
Diagram of a movement experiment studying abnormalities in walking

The Making of the American Culture of Work

Building the assumption of work’s meaningfulness happened across many different institutions and types of media.
by Max L. Chapnick via Commonplace on April 22, 2025
Illustration of Edmond Dédé.

An 1887 Opera by a Black Composer Finally Surfaces

Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane” shows how diversity initiatives can promote works of real cultural value.
by Alex Ross via The New Yorker on February 24, 2025
David Bowie singing into a microphone wearing a feather boa and tights.

How Pop Came Out of the Closet

Jon Savage’s “The Secret Public” traces the influence of queer artists on a hostile culture.
by Samuel Clowes Huneke via The New Republic on February 14, 2025
Louis Armstrong performs on the Kraft Music Hall TV show at NBC Studios in Brooklyn in June 1967 in New York.

Louis Armstrong’s Difficult Upbringing Revealed in Family Police Records

A new book reveals the jazz musician’s mother and sister were arrested several times for prostitution in New Orleans.
by Dalya Alberge via The Guardian on February 1, 2025
Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, and fliers advertising jazz performances.

Jazz Off the Record

In the late 1960s, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, jazz legends were playing the best music you’ve never heard.
by Ethan Iverson via The Nation on January 14, 2025
Exhibit title card featuring a mural of Elizabeth Cotten.

Lady Plays the Blues Project

A digital annotated bibliography and multimedia archive about Black women country blues guitarists.
by Yoli M. Bergstrom-Lynch via Lady Plays the Blues Project on December 31, 2024
James Baldwin at work on his novel “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone," and smoking.

Refinding James Baldwin

A fascinating new exhibit focuses on Baldwin’s years in Turkey, the country that, in his words, saved his life.
by Doreen St. Félix via The New Yorker on December 28, 2024
Bob Dylan playing the electric guitar in 1965.
partner

'A Complete Unknown' Misses a Key Part of 1960s History

The Bob Dylan film forefronts a conflict between acoustic and electric music, while ignoring how the Vietnam War divided folk musicians.
by Nina Silber via Made By History on December 25, 2024

Is the Love Song Dying?

We categorized songs in the Billboard Top 10 to see if love songs are on the decline.
by David Mora, Michelle Jia via The Pudding on November 11, 2024
Photograph of Drag stars: Lady Bunny, Misstress Formika, Sweetie, Anna Conda, Tabboo!

A Nearly Complete Oral History of the Pyramid Club

The Pyramid Club is the stuff of downtown New York legend. In the 1980s, a tiny little dive bar became ground zero for the exploding New York drag scene.
by Michael Musto, Mickey Boardman, Sister Dimension, Linda Simpson, John Kelly, Scott Lifshutz, Steve Buscemi, Lypsinka, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Billy Beyond via Paper on October 24, 2024
People protesting the demolition of homes to make way for the performing arts saying "shelter before culture."

Lincoln Center Destroyed Lives for the Sake of the Arts

The terrific new doc “San Juan Hill” chronicles the 1960s land grab that gave the Metropolitan Opera a home, while scattering longtime residents.
by Elizabeth Zimmer via Village Voice on October 3, 2024
Barack Obama holds up a baby on the campaign trail
partner

Charm Offensive: Why Politicians Reach for ‘Relatable’

For American politicians, the obsession with appealing to the everyman dates back to the raucous campaign of 1840.
via Retro Report on September 15, 2024
Bruce Springsteen on July 19, 1988 at his concert in East Berlin on the cycle track Weissensee.

Can the 1980s Explain 2024?

The yuppies embodied the winning side of America’s deepening economic divide. Bruce Springsteen spoke for those left behind.
by Nicholas Lemann via Washington Monthly on August 25, 2024
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