Black History: Music

Explore African American history through musical traditions with essential academic works selected by RCL editors. Resources for College Libraries (RCL) features 90,000+ core titles for academic libraries, curated by Choice/ACRL subject specialists and available at rclweb.net.

Updated January 2, 2026
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Black History: Music

Explore African American history through musical traditions with essential academic works selected by RCL editors. Resources for College Libraries (RCL) features 90,000+ core titles for academic libraries, curated by Choice/ACRL subject specialists and available at rclweb.net.

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The power of Black music interpreting its history from Africa to the United States
Floyd, Samuel A.
Paper Book
When Jimi Hendrix transfixed the crowds of Woodstock with his gripping version of "The Star Spangled Banner," he was building on a foundation reaching back, in part, to the revolutionary guitar playing of Howlin' Wolf and the other great Chicago bluesmen, and to the Delta blues tradition before him....
Black noise : rap music and black culture in contemporary America
Rose, Tricia.
Paper Book
A comprehensive look at the lyrics, music, cultures, themes, and styles of rap music. Winner of the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation (1995) From its beginnings in hip hop culture, the dense rhythms and aggressive lyrics of rap music...
The music of black Americans : a history
Southern, Eileen.
Paper Book
This text provides comprehensive coverage of black American music, from the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies to contemporary developments in African-American history. The book draws on authentic documents, from colonial times to the present, to illuminate the history of black...
Blacksound : making race and popular music in the United States
Morrison, Matthew D.
Paper Book
"No book from this past year better explains American popular music than professor Matthew Morrison's Blacksound."--A Rolling Stone Best Music Book of 2024 A new concept for understanding the history of the American popular music industry. Blacksound explores the sonic history of...
Black music
Baraka, Amiri
Paper Book
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