Even though blues and jazz are world-wide adored music genres, not everyone knows the painful history behind such enchanting melodies: black people's struggle against oppression and fight for freedom. In today's episode, Hà Trang and Kim bring the discussion to Harlem where James Baldwin and Langston Hughes each tell their own story of blues.
While Baldwin emphasizes music's power to heal and connect people in the short story "Sonny's Blues," Hughes paints a melancholic picture of Harlem at night in "The Weary Blues." Once again, history is one thing to remember beyond the mesmerizing rhythms: that black people have once fought, and are still fighting, for a life they deserve.
