![]() ![]() ![]() This elitist view of history defies logic, but can be found in many articles and books and on the Internet.Īfrica and the Americas: Slaves brought the banjo to the Americas from Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is used to argue that no Americans, excluding slaves and freed slaves, played the African American banjo until almost 200 years after its introduction in Colonial America. Unfortunately, the upper class view of the banjo is often cited as if it represented the view of all classes. This attitude can be documented from Colonial America to twentieth century Appalachia. The upper classes scorned the banjo as an instrument of the lower classes. History was written by elites for the upper economic classes. One quickly realizes that history, for the most part, was not written by or for these people. It is difficult to find much personal information in written history about the classes that played the banjo: slaves, freed slaves, indentured servants, wage earners, backwoodsmen all people of limited means. Following is an outline of essential reading for those seriously interested in the general history of the banjo. ![]()
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