Black music history – Historic events featuring black musicians – Tonic News

This year, when thinking about Black History Month, people have a lot to celebrate. There's the election of President Obama, the confirmation of Eric Holder as the first black Attorney General, and the birthday remembrances of President Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. Yet for every Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, there were entertainers like Stevie Wonder, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday who used pop culture to break down barriers. They communicated in song what was ignored in lectures while still forging a path for jazz, the blues and even rock 'n' roll. While there was once a time when these African-American trailblazers never earned a Grammy or a music Oscar or a hosting gig, there were also moments when reaching these milestones became a matter of history. The following are ten such historic moments.

1. In 1986, the inaugural inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included six African-Americans out of 10 total recipients: Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown and Little Richard. Aretha Franklin became the first woman inductee the following year.

2. Wynonie Harris' "Good Rocking Tonight" (1947) and Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" (1951) became what most historians regard as the first rock 'n' roll songs. Both artists were African Americans, with a teenage Ike Turner penning "Rocket 88."

3. W.C. Handy, known as the "Father of the Blues," popularized the genre with his ragtime classics "Memphis Blues"(1909) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914). The bandleader is honored in Memphis with W.C. Handy Park on Beale Street.

4. Though composed a decade earlier, Jelly Roll Morton published the "Jelly Roll Blues" in 1915 arguably making it the first notated jazz arrangement. Later in life, Morton would eventually die from a knife wound he might have survived if not turned away from a whites-only hospital in D.C.

5. In 2000, country singer Charley Pride became the first African-American inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Pride scored 36 career No. 1 country tunes and, in 1994, received the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award.

6. In 1959, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie became the first African-Americans to win Grammy awards. Fitzgerald picked up trophies for Best Jazz Performance (Individual) and Best Vocal Performance and Count Basie won for Best Jazz Performance (Group) and Best Performance by a Dance Band.

7. After becoming a star, Sammy Davis, Jr. refused to perform in racially segregated venues. At the time, African-American artists were not allowed to stay in the Las Vegas casinos where they performed, but Davis' stand helped lead to desegregation in both the casinos and in Miami Beach nightclubs.

8. Isaac Hayes, known to the Twitter generation as Chef from "South Park," became the first African-American to win a non-acting Oscar in 1973. His classic "Theme from Shaft" won Best Original Song, joining the Beatles' "Let It Be" (1971) as the Academy's first recognitions of modern music.

9. In 1956, music great Nat King Cole became the first African-American to host a television variety program, "The Nat King Cole Show."

10. That same year, Harry Belafonte's "Calypso" becomes the first full-length album to sell over a million copies. The album, featuring the classic "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)," spent 31 weeks at No. 1.