Pbs: American Roots Music: Lesson Two: Desegregating the Airwaves: Blues on the Radio

This lesson deals with the emergence of the blues as a form of popular music on the radio, beginning in Helena, Arkansas in 1940. Students will understand and discuss the relationship between technological and social change, discuss how the popularity of the blues spread as a result of radio, and analyze and discuss how music can be a tool for desegregation and cultural understanding.