♪ ♪ ♪ >> We're here in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, at the National Museum of African American Music.

Next on "The Chavis Chronicles."

♪ >> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by... Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

American Petroleum Institute -- through the core elements of API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry in the U.S. and around the world.

You can learn more at api.org/apiEnergyExcellence.

Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income Americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything.

♪ >> We're so very pleased to welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles" Tuwisha Rogers-Simpson, the vice president of Brand and Partnerships for the National Museum of African American Music.

Welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you for having me, Dr. Chavis.

This is an amazing opportunity.

I'm really excited to be here.

>> So, look.

Let's start with you, Tuwisha.

You're a Jersey -- You're a Jersey girl.

>> I am.

I'm a Jersey girl with an Atlanta number and now a Nashville address.

>> Alright.

>> [ Chuckles ] >> How did you have a relationship with the National Museum of African American Music?

>> Well, you know, this opportunity is a 360 moment for me.

My family's originally from Duck River, Tennessee, which is about 45 minutes away from here, my grandfather.

My grandmother's from Virginia.

But the reason why Duck River, Tennessee, is so important is because my family actually has a road named after them.

It's where my grandfather was raised and spent most of his childhood, and so Nashville is actually fertile and familiar ground for me and my family.

>> Tell us why the National Museum of African American Music is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

>> Well, I would first love to tell you a little bit of a myth.

It's Music City not because of country music but actually because of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

So, we can start there.

>> Fisk University -- the famous HBCU.

>> Famous HBCU.

So, as the story would have it, the Fisk Jubilee Singers are the first group ever to internationally travel.

Not the first people of color.

Not the first group out of the South.

The first ever of the United States to travel globally.

They were traveling to raise money for Fisk University to keep it open.

And so they used Negro hymns and spirituals to give concerts, and it took off.

When they performed in London, which is the story, in front of the Queen of England, she said, "Your voices are so angelic you must hail from a music city."

That's actually how we got our name, because of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

>> Wow.

That's a great fact.

>> It's a great -- >> Not just African-American history, but American history.

>> Right.

And music history.

Nashville serves as the home of many, many things when it comes to the music industry -- from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the founding of gospel music, as well as the seeds and the roots of blues music.

Here in Nashville, we're home to Jefferson Street, which is a very, very important Chitlin' Circuit stop for most blues musicians.

>> For our PBS viewers, what is the Chitlin' Circuit?

>> What is the Chitlin' Circuit?

Well, the Chitlin' Circuit was the circuit that went through the South for Black performers, because at the time they were not always accepted or able to perform in most general-market venues.

And so the African-American community created a tour line, if you will, of different venues throughout the South that were safe but also receiving and accepting of the music.

And so through the Chitlin' Circuit were different stops throughout of entertainment venues of juke joints, clubs, speakeasies if you will, where our performers took off.

Jefferson Street was the have-to performance space of the Chitlin' Circuit.

It was the Apollo, if you will, of the Chitlin' Circuit.

So, Jefferson Street has a huge significance in music history and culture, especially for Black culture.

Having these stops along the way and the change in migration of the music is really key and important, and so what I was saying earlier around Jimi Hendrix, let me fast-forward, because that's how popular Jefferson Street was.

When he was stationed here in Nashville, he went to go perform.

And he said and is quoted in our museum that "those folks down there will shoot you if you don't perform well.

So, I had to come up with something new for my act.

I started playing the guitar with my teeth."

♪ >> Jimi Hendrix is known all over the world.

>> Now today.

And this is a part of where he was able to hone in his craft and go bigger and better.

>> So, what you've explained then, the location of the National Museum of African American Music has a cultural setting, a historical setting.

It goes back many decades... >> Yes.

>> ...here in Nashville, Tennessee.

So, let's talk about it.

I took a tour earlier of the museum.

Outstanding.

>> Thank you.

>> I mean, how do you put all those exhibits together?

Tell us about the evolution... >> Yes.

>> ...of this national museum.

>> Absolutely.

And so, as we just discussed, the culture of Nashville is definitely here, right, and it's a story worth telling.

Initially when we started the museum years ago in concept, the concept was to open a cultural center around Nashville and all it had to offer to African-American culture.

It then evolved into becoming a center for music because of Music City and also again because of the music roots that lie here.

So, over 20 years ago -- 'cause this has been 20 years in the making -- we first came up with the story line, which is really important to any museum.

What are we gonna talk about?

What does that look like?

For the National Museum of African American Music, we are unique because you think music, you think artifacts, you think best of, you think of -- of... halls that kind of speak to more artists.

But we were very intentional to say we want to talk about the historical perspective of what happened when, in 1619, when slaves entered the country and those cultural impacts and intersectionality around music -- what did that birth?

What did the experience come forth and bring forth?

And so our museum is curated in that way.

The story line starts in 1619 when slaves came to the country, and we talk about spirituals, gospel, rituals, how that all came about and that was organic for the slaves and how that evolved into what we know as blues, et cetera, et cetera.

>> So, prior to 1619... >> Mm-hmm.

>> ...there was music in Africa.

>> Absolutely.

>> There was culture in Africa.

>> Absolutely.

>> There were performances in Africa.

>> Absolutely.

>> There was dress in Africa.

>> There were instruments in Africa.

I think one of the biggest things that we do here that people are so surprised is when we talk about the instrumentation in Africa.

In our gallery A Love Supreme, we talk about xylophones and trumpets and horns actually existed in Africa before it came over to the Americas.

And so there is a myth that we did not bring -- >> So, our ancestors brought their music with them.

>> They brought their story with them.

The core of African-American music is storytelling.

It's our experience personified, whether it's joy, pain, or trying to even express or go over social justice.

>> And you cover all of that in the museum.

>> Ab-- That's what the museum is all about.

From every gallery, again, we follow that story line of the intersectionality of Black culture and music and the impression of which it had on American history as well as global history.

And so every gallery starts and it grounds you in African history.

Every gallery will ground you in a film that will show you about the historical context within the Americas, and then every gallery will touch on certain themes such as economics in music, social justice in music, women in music, and we also surround it with a really, really impactful high-technology experience.

>> Let's talk about these galleries that you're referring to.

>> Yes.

>> And I think each gallery has its own significance.

>> It does.

>> Let's start with, as you mentioned, the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Let's start with spirituals and gospel.

Tell us about that gallery.

>> So, that gallery's called Wade in the Water.

So, just a little hint for all that's gonna come visit, each gallery is actually named after a song.

>> Okay.

>> So, that's just a little Easter egg for everyone.

>> Wade in the Water.

>> Wade in the Water.

So, Wade in the Water, as I mentioned earlier, covers the timeframe of 1619 up until present day as it pertains to spirituals, gospels, hymns, and the emersion of that particular genre and art form.

In that gallery, you will cover everything from a historical perspective around those genres of music, as well as artists and influencing moments in that music.

What I love about Wade in the Water is that it also does a really good job of teaching the importance of spiritual storytelling as it pertains to the culture.

We have an actual exhibit that talks about testimonies for anyone who doesn't understand the importance of testimonies and that that means of telling our story, how it's encouraging, and how it's just the tenets of our faith.

We have an interactive there, which I love, one of the favorite most popular.

You get to sing with the choir where Dr. Bobby Jones.

We have a green screen.

You learn "Oh, Happy Day."

But you learn the importance of singing in a choir, why singing together praising God was so important -- it was a survival mechanism for African-Americans during that timeframe -- but in a really, really fun way.

'Cause you're singing "Oh, Happy Day."

You're singing, you're clapping, and you get to take that experience home.

>> Wade in the Water.

>> Wade in the Water.

>> Alright, let's go now to the blues.

>> Yes.

And so the next gallery is the Crossroads gallery.

And that's a very important gallery to African-American music history, but also to the museum.

The Crossroads gallery, from a time perspective, picks up right after Reconstruction.

So, we're talking about a time where slaves are now free and they're gonna go towards the Great Migration.

This is pivotal, because remember -- in the gallery prior to us, you had Black music that existed in Africa.

On the plantations, we didn't own the music.

It wasn't called "Black music" because you did not own who you were or what you created from a mainstream point of view.

So, at this point with blues, blues became a little bit more commercialized.

The sound was something that was pleasing.

So pleasing it became the birth of folk, country music, as well as, of course, R&B, jazz, and also hip-hop.

>> Now, that's something that nearly most Americans don't know, you know?

Are you saying that country music has its origins in the blues of Black people?

>> Absolutely.

I can tell you what.

The slaves actually who moved into the Appalachians and kind of integrated if you will with the folks there, you know, the white folks of that time, they created folk music.

They used everything from jugs, making their own instruments, banjo, and they started doing again that cornerstone, which is storytelling, and intersected with that.

If you think about country music and folk music and you think about blues, it's about storytelling.

It's about what happened with my relationship and my life, what's happening in the community.

It has a -- they relate to one another.

Matter of fact, everything was known as blues music.

Everything was known as pop music before all these different genres started to come out of it because of the commercialism of the music itself.

>> When I was coming into the museum, I saw this mural of some of the heroes of country music.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And right in the center was Charley Pride.

>> Yes.

Funny story.

We actually just had a really, really great conversation with Garth Brooks around Charley Pride, because Garth Brooks was the last to record Charley Pride before his passing.

And Charley Pride's son was here to accept an award.

We did that in partnership with RIAA.

Charley Pride is so important, and Garth Brooks said something that I thought was really meaningful.

He said the fact that Charley Pride was a Black man didn't matter, but it mattered oh so much.

Because the way they saw it was he was doing country music, and that should feel colorless, right?

But the fact that he's the first Black man to receive so much love around country music was also significant, 'cause it speaks to -- even to present day -- the number of African-Americans who really want to embrace into that genre, and it has not been mainstreamed as much as general market.

So, he's very, very significant.

>> Let's go from blues to jazz.

>> Okay.

Okay.

>> Which, in many parts of the world, is considered the origin of American music.

Talk about jazz.

>> Oh, that's really interesting.

It interesting.

So, jazz, again, is birthed from blues music.

When we go into A Love Supreme, which is a gallery where you start to pick up around the renaissance era -- >> It's called A Love Supreme?

>> 'Cause everything is named after a song.

"A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane, yes.

And so A Love Supreme talks about the renaissance eras of New York and Chicago, but of course you're talking New Orleans.

In A Love Supreme, what we capture is just the emersion of how blues music, and along with the Great Migration, is changing the tempo and feel of what we're experiencing as music.

So, in that gallery, we talk about the Savoy, the Cotton Club, and Minton's.

So, Savoy was a club actually founded by African-Americans to dance.

♪ They embraced the new swing and feel of what jazz music was bringing.

It was a very big dance hall space.

It was a place where African-Americans could feel comfortable celebrating and enjoying jazz music and music in general.

Whereas the Cotton Club was actually founded by white Southerners who wanted to provide an experience for Southerners who moved to the north.

A matter of fact, when Earth, Wind, & Fire came through the museum -- I had an opportunity to give them a tour -- they brought to my attention that the background of the Cotton Club was actually a cotton field, hence the name.

And it was actually made for white patrons only with Black performers.

And so I wanted to mention that because, again, you had the emersion of now jazz becoming more acceptable nationwide as far as music, even though you still had racism that was taking place where you could not actually enjoy as a person of color, but yet you could perform.

So, the Cotton Club sits in Harlem today.

Still there today.

Actually was a club for white patrons only.

And then you had Minton's, which was a jazz club also still in New York City, but this was a club where if you wanted to become a jazz artist, you had to play.

It's almost like with the Laugh Factory or what the comedy clubs are where you have to go perform there before you hit it big.

That's what Minton's was for the jazz community.

And so A Love Supreme is one of my favorite galleries, because in that gallery, we have really, really, really rich artifacts.

A trombone from Cathy Hughes and her family was donated.

We have Louis Armstrong's trumpet there to see.

One of my favorite, favorite cases is the one of Ella Fitzgerald.

In that case, we had actually one of her Grammys, her Academy Award, sheet music between her and Count Basie, along with her coat and a brooch.

And it gives me chills to talk about it and almost brings me to tears because we're talking about regal excellence.

Black excellence in music.

But some of these people were not able to walk through front doors of establishments.

So you think about what they did in regards to social justice and the doors that they knocked down and were able to keep their heads up and what they were able to create -- a path for all other musicians behind them.

It just changes the whole landscape and impact of what jazz is.

>> And of course jazz began to break through the racial divide.

>> Yes.

>> It actually started uniting people across racial lines in American and certainly... >> Globally.

>> ...globally.

>> Correct.

>> So, let's move now from jazz to R&B.

>> Yes.

>> Rhythm and Blues.

>> Yes, yes, yes.

>> Talk to us about it.

>> And so I'd love, just if I can go back to the point you just made about that through every gallery or every point in our history here, music is, again, hand-in-hand with social justice.

>> Yes.

>> Every emersion of a new "genre" of music came with some level of having to accept a newness, right?

Came with some level of being the voice of a generation, a voice of what that generation's struggle was.

So, I think that's really important, because that is a through line throughout the entire museum.

There's not one genre we're gonna talk about where there was not a moment where there was some level of civil unrest, some level of having to be accepted, some push, some point in time where it was not accepted or received by general market, but then all of a sudden, it takes off and it becomes a global phenomenon.

So, I think that's really important.

We really want to make sure that people know this is a home of those untold stories.

This is where you're gonna get those beats and have those conversations.

So, to that we move into One Nation Under Groove.

And so, in this gallery, which is our largest gallery in the entire museum, we start to talk about the emersion of Black music business -- more Black executives being at the head of music business.

We talk about Black radio, 'cause you know radio was really important.

But you had forefathers like, again, Cathy Hughes, who knew it was important to have radio stations in our community talking about things that mattered to us.

>> Right.

Radio One, TV One.

>> Exactly.

Exactly.

>> And of course BET.

>> Of course.

And so we start to talk about those emersions -- "Soul Train."

The importance of that.

But one of my favorite, favorite little artifacts in that -- in that particular gallery is where we talk about cover songs and original songs.

Why is that so important to me?

It's because we actually talk about there were songs produced, written, and performed by Black artists, but until a certain time, no one knew that they were the actual origins because we heard the commercialization of those songs.

There's one in there about LaVern Baker.

♪ Tweedle-la, tweedle-le, tweedle-le-dee ♪ That song was actually created by her, but it was another white performer who was actually credited the actual song.

So, in the gallery, you can actually pull down the record.

You read the history of who came first.

>> Talk about this transition, not only as artists, but we begin to own our records, own our labels, own our publishing.

You captured that also in this museum?

>> In addition to even owning the artwork of what was put on the actual records and CDs.

Owning the look.

Owning the fashion.

So, we kind of go into the '70s and the '60s when we talk about the great movement of all -- The Temptations and Diana Ross and -- >> The Motown Sound.

>> Motown Sound and Aretha Franklin.

We again start to see a little bit more about how music is really embedded in culture -- fashion, again civil rights, again in entrepreneurship, and all the way up to the Funkadelic and George Clinton and even Earth, Wind, & Fire.

You start to see Black futurism.

They brought in the space ships.

Tina Turner started doing crossover.

It wasn't just R&B.

It's now pop.

It's dance music.

Then we talk about Whitney Houston, BET, and even MTV.

'Cause even after all this impact, Michael Jackson was the first person on MTV.

What I love, 'cause I'm gonna jump a little bit to the next gallery, The Message, is later on we talk about the emersion of "Yo!

MTV Raps."

Let's not even talk about all that hip-hop had to go through to even become mainstream, but in that short span of time in regards to popularity, MTV went from showing nothing to having a dedicated channel dedicated to hip-hop and rap music.

That says a lot about our impression on American history, but also in music culture.

>> Out of the South Bronx, Blacks and Latino, hip-hop culture emerges on the national and global scene.

>> Yes.

>> How does the National Museum of African-American Music capture hip-hop culture?

>> Well, let me tell you something.

This is my favorite gallery because we talk about my era.

[ Chuckles ] >> Now, you have favorites of galleries.

You got a lot of favorite galleries.

>> I have a -- Well, okay.

I love the museum.

I hope it shows.

But this is the era where I could talk about this from the top of my head and probably just break into a rhyme.

>> Let's get into it.

>> Let's get into it.

So, hip-hop is around 49 years old, right?

One of my favorite artifacts -- and people don't see it this way -- in that particular gallery is that we have actual reconstructed posters that were put up in the Bronx, in New York, promoting shows.

Why is that so important?

You're talking about on notebook paper or plain paper where you're just trying to invite people out to small clubs, underground, making tapes around hip-hop music.

Today, it's the number-one genre of music globally.

She's only 49 years old.

It's so impactful because it is the future of storytelling, going back to what we talked about in the beginning.

Hip-hop music is what we've always been doing, which is telling our story in an authentic, innovative way.

And so when we start to move into the '70s and we start to talking about urban sprawl and you start to see things happening in urban communities around drugs, violence, et cetera, you also start to see the emersion of hip-hop culture of the expression of the young people wanting to talk and tell their stories in their own fashion way.

>> Social consciousness, against police brutality.

>> Exactly.

Also just -- >> Public Enemy.

>> Public Enemy.

But just also celebrating what we understand as a culture created in inner cities.

>> Well, as music, it's very, very raw.

>> Well, it was also very honest.

>> And authentic to what the rawness of cultural oppression and suffering that was going on in the urban centers.

The music reflected the social condition of the people.

>> Absolutely.

And we didn't want to hear that truth.

But that's the beauty again.

I told you, in every gallery, hand-in-hand, social justice and music.

>> Talk to us about how music transcends some of these divides.

>> Well, you just said it.

That's exactly it.

Wherever we have, again, a social movement, music is there.

One of the things we really want to do here at the museum is -- we call ourselves a museum, but we really want to be seen as an institution, because this is a perfect place to host conversations around these topics, because it's in a space where everyone can relate to the music, right?

They can relate to it from a personal memory or historical memory and relevance.

And so on top of what we do in regards of our museum and our artifacts and our exhibits, we also have, again, what are called branded events where we have conversations, such as, for example, we hosted a conversation with AllianceBernstein and Master P around economics, because economics and music is really important in entrepreneurship, right?

So we can do it that way.

We also have a bevy of educational programs.

My education -- My director of education says all the time, "What you don't see on the walls we're doing in our programs."

So we have programs such as "From Nothing to Something" that teaches youth around the history of instruments and creating banjos and the innovation behind that, along with some STEAM, if you will, which is Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Arts.

The message is that they play with each other.

They're relative, right?

So the musical counting that we do in music is really relevant to mathematic rhythm and understanding.

So, scales -- 1/4, 2/3, 3/3.

Whole notes, half notes.

That is mathematical.

That is the Dewey decimal system.

That is also fractions, which is also percentages.

It's relative.

So, by the way, I also used to be a math teacher, and I used to love teaching it that way.

But not only that, it's relevant.

>> How do people get some of the richness if they aren't able to travel to Nashville?

Is there something virtual that they can see?

>> I love your question.

So, again, I mentioned earlier we have educational programs that we -- that are either virtual or hybrid.

Some of them you can do here, but some of the things we do such as our Sips and Stanza, our Music Matters, are on video.

That's a way to emerge -- excuse me -- engage with artists in the museum.

We also have different programs, such as our Black Music Month.

Like, Music Month is our Super Bowl month, and so we have activities around that because it's important -- >> June still?

>> June.

That's right.

So, we lean into -- >> Every year?

>> Every year.

And one more important thing that we did not mention here is that when you walk into the museum, you receive an RFID bracelet, and that bracelet allows you to take home your experience, and we want you to do that.

Once you to take home your experience, you can download playlists here, you can, again, sing with the choir with the green screen and see video.

You can create a blues song.

You can innovate a jazz song.

You can rap and actually become a rap artist yourself using just simply your bracelet and technology to take it home.

I have to hit that point, because the way that we continue to grow our African-American culture and history and our music history is to continue storytelling.

And that storytelling has a parallel path -- how we are engaging with each other today -- and that's through digital and technology.

So, that is a must as we grow.

>> Well, you are certainly an expert in telling the story.

Tuwisha Rogers-Simpson.

>> Yes.

>> We want to thank you for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

You're a great ambassador... >> Thank you.

>> ...for the National Museum of African American Music.

>> It has been a pleasure, a blessing, and we want to thank you for spotlighting us and having this conversation with us.

We hope to have you back soon.

Welcome home.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by... Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

American Petroleum Institute -- through the core elements of API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry in the U.S. and around the world.

You can learn more at api.org/apiEnergyExcellence.

Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income Americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪