The historical significance of Black popular music in American culture is powerful. Even former President Jimmy Carter dedicated a month to African American music appreciation beginning in 1979.

For more than a decade, this appealing brand of swing jazz was the most popular music in America. During the 1940s, jazz gradually parted ways with popular music. A new generation of modern jazz ...

Like their white counterparts, they listened to and performed the songs of Stephen Foster and other popular white composers. Brought to America in captivity and sold into slavery, Africans carried ...

A Journey Through the Roots of American Popular Music' is a program of songs and stories about the origins of the blues, rock ...

The combination of African and European musical elements resulted in new styles of popular American music - including ragtime, blues and jazz.

Think about radio, and what often comes to mind is the crystal clear music and spoken words broadcast by FM stations across America. But radio wasn't always so advanced -- or so popular.