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There have been multi-artist box sets, documentaries about key artists and genres and much scholarship on the subject, but there are some things only a well-designed museum can do, with its immersive command on our attention and its cross-generational appeal. And now, after almost twenty years of talking, imagining, fund-raising, construction and research, the National Museum of African American Music is open in the heart of downtown Music City. It’s a first-of-its-kind experience, a $60 million investment in the city’s cultural life and a kind of challenge to the country music tourism frenzy just out the museum’s doors on Lower Broadway.
Story by Kristen Rogers, video by Channon Hodge, CNN • Updated 28th January 2021
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(CNN) As more people are starting to learn about the history of African Americans, there is one component that s particularly integral to understanding the national culture: music.
African American artists created and influenced genres from the blues, jazz and hip-hop to rock and roll. Bluesmen Muddy Waters and B.B. King electrified that genre and galvanized rock guitarists, and trumpeter and composer Louis Armstrong changed the jazz landscape all building on traditions brought to American soil by enslaved people.
Educating the world on the central role African Americans have played in creating the American soundtrack and preserving that legacy are the missions of the National Museum of African American Music, which debuted in Nashville on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 18. The museum opens to the public on Saturday.
The National Museum of African American Music has more than 1,600 artifacts and memorabilia to help tell the story of Black trailblazers and innovators.