Description
Book SynopsisFrom minstrelsy to the folk music revival of the twentieth century, the banjo has continued to attract audiences and acquire meaning. This book offers an examination of the instrument's portrayal in images that range from anonymous photographs of performers to paintings by Thomas Eakins and prints by Dox Thrash.
Trade Review"The instrument proper to them [slaves] is the banjar, which they brought hither from Africa." - Thomas Jefferson"
Table of ContentsContents
Lenders to the Exhibition
List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Leo G. Mazow, Banjo Cultures
2. John Davis, A Change of Key: The Banjo During the Civil War and Reconstruction
3. Sarah Burns, Whiteface: Art, Women, and the Banjo in Late-Nineteenth-Century America
4. Leo G. Mazow, From Sonic to Social: Noise, Quiet, and Banjo Imagery
5. Joyce Henri Robinson, Harlem Renaissance, Plantation Formulas, and the Dialect(ic) of the Banjo
6. Michael D. Harris, From The Banjo Lesson to The Piano Lesson: Reclaiming the Song
7. Cecelia Tichi, Afterword: The State and Fate of an Icon
Selected Bibliography
Index
