Folk Music has a wonderful and beautiful history that is deeply inspiring to many people. It is so fascinating to me because it has a deep history that is specifically connected to my ancestors. The music was never written down in the traditional but instead passed orally from generation to generation and region to region. 

African American folk music needs to be talked about because many of modern artist wouldn’t exist without folk music. Artist that exist in the R&B, Blues, and Hip-Hop spaces have enslaved African Americans to thank for giving them. foundation to grow on. 

I am more familiar with the Negro Spiritual because I grew up in the Black Baptist Church and still attend it to this day. It came about around the transatlantic slave trade and was seen as a sign of resistance, hope, and devotion. Enslaved people used negro spirituals as a way of sending messages across distances and regions in the country. 

African American Folk Music was and still continues to be a way of perseverance, community, resistance, and devotion to God and each other. It has inspired artist like Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Beyoncé, etc etc to add black power and resistance in their music even though they are 2-4 generations removed from slavery.