{"id":1160,"date":"2019-02-15T11:32:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T17:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitmowp.local\/articles\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T10:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:18:34","slug":"missouris-african-american-music-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/articles\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy","title":{"rendered":"Missouri&#8217;s African American Music Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. \u2013 Stevie Wonder<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musical memories run deep in Missouri where African American musicians have not just influenced the musical tapestry of America; in many ways, they wove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mdt-visitmo-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/article-images\/large-5c66f9df528a8.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Visit the Blind Boone Home in Columbia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John William &#8220;Blind&#8221; Boone was, perhaps, Missouri&#8217;s first musical superstar, overcoming poverty, disability and racism to become a nationally known composer and musician. Born to a contraband slave in Civil War Missouri and blind almost from birth, Boone was a musical prodigy who could play nearly every instrument, although piano was his favorite. He composed and performed music that blended classical, Negro spirituals and African American folk music \u2013 a combination that opened the way for ragtime, jazz, boogie-woogie and much more.&nbsp;&nbsp;His legacy lives on in Columbia, where his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blindboonehome.com\/\">home&nbsp;<\/a>still stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of ragtime, it was born here \u2013 not just in America but right here in Missouri, in the African American communities of St. Louis in the 1890s. It was the perfect soundtrack for its era: upbeat, enthusiastic, sure to set your toes tapping. Scott Joplin, &#8220;The King of Ragtime,&#8221; composed his most famous work, &#8220;Maple Leaf Rag,&#8221; while living in Sedalia and &#8220;The Entertainer&#8221; during his time in St. Louis.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/things-to-do\/scott-joplin-house-state-historic-site\">The Scott Joplin House State Historic Site&nbsp;<\/a>in St. Louis pays homage to his legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mdt-visitmo-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/article-images\/large-black-history-in-missouri-is-set-tomusic-5c66f965d1668.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The blues was a type of music that sang of life \u2013 the good parts and the bad parts. And when it arrived in St. Louis, it stayed. One of the top blues tunes of all time, W.C. Handy&#8217;s &#8220;St. Louis Blues&#8221; was inspired by hard times he faced, sleeping on the city&#8217;s cobblestones along the banks of the river. Slip into the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/things-to-do\/the-duck-room-at-blueberry-hill\">Duck Room at Blueberry Hill<\/a>, decorated with photos of Chuck Berry doing the Duck Walk and featuring live music several nights a week. Another lively spot with great food and even spicier music is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/things-to-do\/broadway-oyster-bar\" type=\"thing-to-do\" id=\"7081\">Broadway Oyster Bar<\/a>. This fun &#8220;dive&#8221; is known for hosting the longest-running weekly Blues jam session in the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 1920s, on the other side of the state, the music was all about jazz: energetic and uninhibited. As we like to say here in the Show-Me State, &#8220;jazz may have been born in the south, but it was raised in Kansas City.&#8221; The\u00a018<sup>th<\/sup>and Vine district downtown became internationally known as one of the cradles of jazz music, where with help from Count Basie and Kansas City native Charlie Parker, America&#8217;s music found its wings and Prohibition gave birth to &#8220;The Jazz Age.&#8221; The area continues to flourish, hosting a variety of performing venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poet Langston Hughes \u2013 another native-born Missourian \u2013 wrote: &#8220;Let life be like music.&#8221; You&#8217;ll find plenty of both in the Show-Me State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. \u2013 Stevie Wonder<br \/>\nMusical memories run deep in Missouri where African American musicians have not just influenced the musical tapestry of America; in many ways, they wove it.<\/p>\n<p>Visit the Blind Boone H<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"19096,15617,23413,1103,1088,37033","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-history"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Missouri&#039;s African American Music Legacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/articles\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missouri&#039;s African American Music Legacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. \u2013 Stevie Wonder Musical memories run deep in Missouri where African American musicians have not just influenced the musical tapestry of America; in many ways, they wove it. Visit the Blind Boone H\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/articles\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visit Missouri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VisitMO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-15T17:32:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T15:18:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mdt-visitmo-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/article-images\/large-5c66f9df528a8.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liz Coleman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@visitmo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@visitmo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liz Coleman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitmo.com\\\/articles\\\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitmo.com\\\/articles\\\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liz Coleman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitmo.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e82ba2c8f77c1142459da157bd22f509\"},\"headline\":\"Missouri&#8217;s African American Music Legacy\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-15T17:32:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-30T15:18:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitmo.com\\\/articles\\\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy\"},\"wordCount\":471,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitmo.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.visitmo.com\\\/articles\\\/missouris-african-american-music-legacy#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdt-visitmo-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\\\/article-images\\\/large-5c66f9df528a8.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Art &amp; 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