Music, Words & Genius
Which kinds of music did Black Americans invent — that the whole world now plays?
Why this month matters
End on a high note. So much of what the world listens to and reads was created by Black Americans. This is genius you can hear, sing, and read aloud together.
The story
Black Americans invented the blues, jazz, gospel, soul, R&B, and hip-hop — much of the soundtrack of the modern world. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington made jazz America's classical music. Aretha Franklin became the Queen of Soul; Stevie Wonder and Prince reinvented popular music; hip-hop, born in the Bronx in 1973, grew into the most popular music on Earth. In words, Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Gwendolyn Brooks was the first Black author to win a Pulitzer Prize, and Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes gave the language some of its most beloved poems. Read one aloud tonight.
The throughline
This genius started here — in churches, on porches, and in city blocks — and it never stopped. Put on a song, open a poem, and celebrate it together.