Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The early part of the 20th century, Black art exploded onto the national stage through the Harlem Renaissance. Jewish songwriters and producers were some of the first non-Black creatives to attempt to translate a bit of the Black experience to mainstream white audiences whose primary form of entertainment up to that point had been blackface minstrelsy.
It was an imperfect translation, and much of it represented a less offensive form of cultural appropriation, but it was the first serious attempt to shift the depiction of Black people to a more serious, artful portrayal that presented them as layered, textured subjects, worthy of careful contemplation.
Join Joe Alterman and me for a conversation on this topic, and an accompanying musical performance where we’ll explore the intersection of Black and Jewish artistic expression that came to make up America’s popular music foundation.
Join @joealterman and I on December 17th for a unique program where we’ll discuss this “Musical Intersection.” Link in bio. 🤎🤍
#Blackart #JewishArt #GreatDay #PorgyandBess #Showboat #LangstonHughes #ZoraNealeHurston #WEBDuBois #GeorgeGershwin #IraGershwin #OscarHammerstein #JeromeKern
The early part of the 20th century, Black art exploded onto the national stage through the Harlem Renaissance. Jewish songwriters and producers were some of the first non-Black creatives to attempt to translate a bit of the Black experience to mainstream white audiences whose primary form of entertainment up to that point had been blackface minstrelsy.
It was an imperfect translation, and much of it represented a less offensive form of cultural appropriation, but it was the first serious attempt to shift the depiction of Black people to a more serious, artful portrayal that presented them as layered, textured subjects, worthy of careful contemplation.
Join Joe Alterman and me for a conversation on this topic, and an accompanying musical performance where we’ll explore the intersection of Black and Jewish artistic expression that came to make up America’s popular music foundation.
Join @joealterman and I on December 17th for a unique program where we’ll discuss this “Musical Intersection.” Link in bio. 🤎🤍
#Blackart #JewishArt #GreatDay #PorgyandBess #Showboat #LangstonHughes #ZoraNealeHurston #WEBDuBois #GeorgeGershwin #IraGershwin #OscarHammerstein #JeromeKern
