OUR VIEW: Engage with Black History Month

Black History Month. African American History. Celebrated annual. In February in United States and Canada. In October in Great Britain. Poster, card, banner, background. Vector illustration

The banjo is a staple of Appalachian music. And many have forgotten its U.S. origins began with the enslaved African Americans on plantations who were make-shifting this instrument out of gourds.

The instrument was a call back to West African heritage. Now when people think of the banjo, they think of the more Eurocentric drum body and tuning peg head.