History of Slavery in America

July 4, 1776

1619

March 5, 1770

February 12, 1793

January 1, 1863

April 12, 1861

November 6, 1860

March 6, 1857

History of Black Slavery in America

July 28, 1868

1873

1865

1875

1896

1877

1968

Post-Slavery Development of the Blues

1912

1923

1915

1909

Blues music developed throughout the 1900s, but its origins date back to the 1800s during slavery. The original "blues" were sung by African American slaves as they worked in the fields on plantations. These melodies were called "work songs" or "field hollers", since the slaves were at work in the fields while they sang.

1926

1949

1937

1929

1935

Resources

A history of blues music. SantaFe.com. (2022, September 12). https://santafe.com/a-history-of-blues-music/#:~:text=A%20History%20of%20Blues%20Music,dies%2C%20you%20get%20the%20blues.

B. B. King. Wikipedia. (2024a, November 21). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._B._King

Blind lemon jefferson. Wikipedia. (2024, November 21). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Lemon_Jefferson

Discovering music: The blues. Open Learning. (2024). https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/discovering-music-the-blues/content-section-7

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024, November 10). Blues. https://www.britannica.com/art/blues-music

History and notable musicians. Encyclopædia Britannica. (2024, November 10). https://www.britannica.com/art/blues-music/History-and-notable-musicians

Lead belly. Wikipedia. (2024, November 10). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Belly

Ma Rainey. Wikipedia. (2024d, November 20). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Rainey

Memphis Minnie. Wikipedia. (2024, July 20). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Minnie

Sonny Boy Williamson. Encyclopædia Britannica. (2024). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sonny-Boy-Williamson

Sonny Boy Williamson I. Wikipedia. (2024, October 10). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Boy_Williamson_I

Teasdell, D. (2022, December 12). Field hollers and work songs. Black Music Scholar. https://blackmusicscholar.com/field-hollers-and-work-songs-2/#:~:text=A%20field%20holler%20and%20a,urban%20environments%20using%20amplified%20sounds.

What is blues music? A guide to the blues history and sound. MasterClass. (2021, September 3). https://www.masterclass.com/articles/blues-music-guide#3ZYENENvA9zxU7jyqBWgWS

1915-1940s

As huge numbers of African Americans left the South at this time due to failed Reconstruction, dismal economic conditions, oppression in the South and the hope of better treatment in the North between 1915 and 1940s, the blues went with them, and settled in the urban centers of the North, especially Chicago.

Lead Belly

Lead Belly’s first recorded singles were “All Out And Down” and “Packin’ Trunk”. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Folk Song Renditions

“In the Pines” is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, "In the Pines" and "The Longest Train", both of whose authorship is unknown and date back to at least the 1870s."Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South.[1] The song refers to the passenger train Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light."

WC Handy appears on the Ed Sullivan Show to perform his song “St. Louis Blues”.