HIST 125 UNC Final

Minstrelsy

A 19th-century theatrical form where white performers used burnt cork (blackface) to enact racist caricatures of African Americans. It was the first "national" popular music genre

Stephen Foster

Known as the "Father of American Music" he wrote mid-19th-century hits like "Oh! Susanna." His work bridged the gap between polite parlor music and the rougher world of minstrelsy.

Sheet Music

The primary way music was sold and consumed before recordings. It turned the domestic piano into the center of home entertainment.

Tin Pan Alley

The nickname for the New York City music publishing district (c. 1885–1950) that industrialized song-writing into a "hit factory" system.

Ragtime

A syncopated ("ragged") musical style popular from the 1890s to 1910s primarily led by African American pianists like Scott Joplin.

The Great Migration

The movement of 6 million African Americans out of the rural South to the Urban North/West (1916–1970) which shifted the landscape of American music (blues

Jimmie Rodgers

The "Singing Brakeman" and the first superstar of country music. He blended traditional folk with blues and "blue yodeling" in the late 1920s.

Bessie Smith

The "Empress of the Blues" a 1920s powerhouse who transformed rural blues into a sophisticated

"Empires of Sound"

A term referring to the global dominance of American media and recording giants (like RCA or Columbia) in the early-to-mid 20th century.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

A gospel singer and guitarist who pioneered the use of heavy distortion on the electric guitar in the 1930s and 40s influencing the birth of rock and roll.

Middlebrow Culture

A mid-20th-century movement aimed at making "high art" (classical music/opera) accessible to the middle class through radio and magazines.

The Counterculture

The 1960s movement (hippies/anti-war) that used rock and folk music as a vehicle for political dissent and social experimentation.

Motown Records Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit (1959)

Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit (1959) it was a Black-owned label that specialized in polished

Country Music Association (CMA)

Founded in 1958 to promote country music as a respectable commercially viable genre in the face of the rock and roll explosion.

The Folk Revival

The 1940s–60s movement (led by figures like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan) that championed acoustic "authentic" music over commercial pop.

Loretta Lynn

A country superstar whose 1960s and 70s hits (like "The Pill") brought working-class female perspectives and feminist issues to the country charts.

PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center)

An organization formed in 1985 that lobbied for parental advisory stickers on albums sparking a debate over censorship and artistic freedom.

Sub Pop Records

The Seattle independent label that launched the "Grunge" movement in the late 80s prioritizing an "indie" DIY ethic over corporate polish.

Brown-Eyed Soul

A soulful style of music performed by Mexican American artists particularly in Southern California

Music Streaming

The contemporary digital distribution model (Spotify/Apple Music) that replaced physical sales with access-based consumption.