The Truth About Banjo History

Banjo Heritage 👉   / cliftonhicks  
Clifton Hicks on the banjo's surprising popularity before 1800, plus Old Leatherstocking, Joe Sweeney, and the rise of blackface minstrelsy.

The earliest accounts of what can be positively identified as a "banjo" come from the Caribbean during the 17th century. Recent organological studies of early gourd banjos indicate that they are a hybrid instrument, borrowing heavily from both African and European lutes.* By 1740 the gourd banjo had spread across the east coast of what would become the United States, and by 1780 it occupied a central role in both black and white folk culture--especially in the South. However, it wasn't until the 1830s that blackface minstrels began utilizing it on the commercial stage, and this happened mostly in the urban North. In the South, banjo culture remained relatively uncommercialized until after the American Civil War.

* Banjo Roots and Branches (ed. Winans, 2018)

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