Jon Brewer examines the history of blues music in America, marrying startling imagery and expert interviews with archival performances to fill in the gaps about the music itself, its origins and the impact it had and continues to have on popular music today.
DirectorJon Brewer
WriterLaura Royko
1762 - 1865
Jan 7, 2017
"The Blues", the language of the forlorn, grew from slave chants blended with many influences, proving foundational in changing the American south as slaves sought freedom, but they faced great resistance including segregation, oppression and the American Civil War.
1865–1968
Jan 7, 2017
The intoxicating essence of New Orleans permeates this episode as it explores the era of Storyville, the struggle for Civil Rights, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.
1940–2015
Jan 7, 2017
A look at 75 years of American history, where racism reframed inequality in the guise of a "new world", where a black American became president but young black men were killed by police with little recourse, and where uprisings ensued.
