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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
American music2 quotes
The Negro folk-song-the rhythmic cry of the slave-stands today not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side the seas. It has been neglected, it has been, and is, half despised, and above all it has been persistently mistaken and misunderstood; but notwithstanding, it still remains as the singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people. — W.E.B. Du Bois · 1903It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive characteristic. — James Weldon Johnson · 1930Black music1 quote
The Negro folk-song-the rhythmic cry of the slave-stands today not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side the seas. It has been neglected, it has been, and is, half despised, and above all it has been persistently mistaken and misunderstood; but notwithstanding, it still remains as the singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people. — W.E.B. Du Bois · 1903