Blues

Blues was not the only new musical development to emerge in the decades surrounding the turn of the century. Instead it should be viewed as part of a wave of innovation in black American music at this time that also saw the first stirrings of ragtime, jazz, gospel music, and barbershop-style vocal harmony. This occurred in conjunction with significant new developments in literature, theater, and the arts in general, as well as in black political and religious life. This creativity...