Rhiannon Giddens

"Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens celebrates Black history and culture in her unflinching, uplifting, and gorgeously illustrated picture book debut. As an acclaimed musician, singer, songwriter, and cofounder of the traditional African American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens has long used her art to mine America's musical past and manifest its future, passionately recovering lost voices and reconstructing a nation's...

Although difficult to study, minstrel shows play an important part in the banjo's history.

Dive into the cross-cultural exchange made possible by the banjo.

Explore the "gourd banjo" and the conversation between African and European music.

See how the gourd banjos eventually led to the development of the tambourine.

Meet some of the early figures of the Irish banjo.

The course ends with a look back-and a look forward.

Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind: The Carolina Chocolate Drops' Story captures how three musicians from the hip-hop generation embraced a 19th-century genre and took it to new heights, winning a Grammy in 2010.

Rhiannon Giddens's follow-up to her highly acclaimed solo debut, Tomorrow Is My Turn, is more raw and personal with a mix of original tunes, traditional songs, and two songs from the civil rights era.