The Blog Sings the Blues
When Louis Armstrong sings “What did I do to be so Black and Blue?”, he is evoking a color that holds various meanings to black people. The song was originally in a musical and was sung by a black woman bemoaning the fact that fairer skinned black women seem to get all the men. Of course, that is part of colorism. Certainly, the musical genre ‘the Blues’ was originated by African Americans in the south in the 1960’s. It’s history is interwoven into the Black experience and also into many other musical genres such as Country Music and Pop Music.
In her new book, Imani Perry expounds on the above meaning of the color ‘blue’ and also of its other meaning in Black history–that of hope. Because Perry is foremost a scholar, she explores the different ways in which the color ‘blue’ leads the reader to experience Black history and culture.
Perry is a professor in the department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. In 2022, she won the National Book Award with South to America. She was a guest at the Charleston Literary Festival in 2022. Just recently she appeared at the Gaillard in Charleston and toured John’s and Wadmalaw Islands. To hear a recent conversation with this engaging author, visit the site below: