Prior to 1916, 90% of African Americans lived in the rural south. During the “Great Migrations” (1916-1930 and 1940-1960) millions of African Americans migrated into the cities of the north and south. As African Americans relocated, they took their music north with them and cities like Chicago, New York and Memphis became the new centers of African American music. In the study/discussion group you can discuss a genre, such as the Blues, Jazz, or Spirituals/Gospel, and tell us about its roots in the Antebellum South and its evolution in the late 19th and early 20th century. Or, you can discuss the music of some of the musical greats of this period. For example, there are Blues singers, such as, Bessie Smith and Muddy Waters, Jazz pioneers like King Oliver, Jellyroll Morton and Louis Armstrong, and Spiritual/Gospel luminaries like the Jubilee Singers, Thomas A. Dorsey and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, to mention only a few. You can tell us about their lives, music and impact on popular music.
