Take in Louis Armstrong’s trumpet. Or legendary jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald’s Grammy. Or an outfit that the late TLC member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes once performed in.
The history of Black music and its influence on the world is brought to life through seven galleries at the new National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We’re not focusing on one genre of music or one type of artist, we’re really taking a look at what was the impact on African Americans once they entered the country, and how did that birth what we know now as Black music,” museum spokeswoman Tuwisha Rogers-Simpson said.
A 30-minute film presentation in the “Roots Theatre” gallery gives audiences an overview of the west and central African cultures and the institution of slavery.
It shows the evolution of spirituals, blues, jazz and navigates through historical periods, such as the Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the Harlem Renaissance.
