National Museum of African American Music

Nashville, Tennessee

Memories of the Phonograph

 

Margaret Renkl wrote the following in the New York TImes about The National Museum of African American Music on the occasion of its opening January 18, 2021:

"It is a 56,000-square-foot tribute to the makers of the first music that was truly American — “one nation under a groove,” as the museum’s tagline puts it in a nod to the George Clinton song. Beginning with the musical traditions of enslaved people, its interactive exhibits celebrate the brilliant legacy that has followed the first Black Americans through more than 50 musical genres and subgenres — classical, country, gospel, jazz, blues and hip-hop, just for starters — during the past 400 years. According to the museum’s website, no other museum with this purpose exists in the world."

 

"A 15-minute orientation film in the museum’s Roots Theater gives a brief overview of the evolution of Black music in America as it unfolded: “We wanted to tell a chronological story of American music, rather than a genre-driven or an artist-driven story,” said Mr. Hicks.After leaving the theater, visitors can explore five interactive galleries, each extending outward from a semicircular corridor that conveys the 400-year timeline of African-American music."

 

 

 

 

The 400-year timeline of African-American music

 

 

 






 

 

 

 

William DeShazer for The New York Times

 

 

 

William DeShazer for The New York Times




 

Research Library

 

 

 

People walk to the entrance of the National Museum of African American Music - Nashville, Tenn. (Mark Humphrey/Associated Press) The Washington Post February 5, 2021)