The St. Louis Blues: Music, Migration, and the Movement

The St. Louis Blues: Music, Migration, and the Movement examines the relationships between blues music, migration, and race relations in urban environments. St. Louis has been home to several of the most influential composers and performers of 20th and 21st-century music: Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer, W.C. Handy’s iconic St. Louis Blues, Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode and Ike and Tina Turner’s A Fool in Love. These contributions of Black genius stand in contrast to the urban history of discrimination and displacement, which makes St. Louis a crucial site for studying race relations during the 20th and 21st centuries.