Rhiannon Giddens: On the Lost History of the Black Banjo

[@thestarseeker8196]

Her diction is wonderfully easy to follow, not an easy skill but essential when you’re trying to tell a story, impart knowledge - be a teacher. It’s wonderful that this history is finally beginning to be able to breathe thanks to people like Ms Giddons.

[@ladyleesutter]

Bright, beautiful, talented. Can't get enough of her. She totally knows the banjo's history and explains it so eloquently.

[@giovannipeirone8619]

she can play, dance, sing, both european and american folk music, and now we have a brilliant lecture... she is also beautiful... what else?

[@heinerkaiser8673]

She also can compose for instance. 🙂

[@red_violette]

She has a BA from a Science and Math college in NC, and a Masters in Music, Voice, Opera from Oberlin. AND she's incredibly intelligent. And she wants to share it all with us!

[@derekbaker2177]

I have never seen such a masterful musician as her. She knows more about music and her instruments than any other performer I know of.

[@mattlc713]

Another great person to hear from when it comes to the history is Ketch Secor. They both have immense knowledge on the subject

[@librandy77]

Thank you so very much🪕🪕🪕

[@Pere1966...]

All she gets are Love- comments!!! She sings= loved, she in an interview= loved...Amazing person!!!

[@suemorris6336]

You can tell she is very educated and knowledgeable about music and instruments. ❤️

[@theyoodoo]

We have African culture to thank for the banjo. The diversity of cultures here in America led to the most diverse musical heritage of any country on the planet.

[@josephperkins4080]

We havd a marriage of cultures including European to thank

[@holyspiritsgirl9349]

@@josephperkins4080 no idiot. Country and the banjo came from black people

[@jaxthewolf4572]

@@josephperkins4080 Nope, african culture to thank for the existence of the banjo.

[@matthewwilliams3643]

@@jaxthewolf4572 The instrument that Africans brought to America was way different than the banjo

[@jaxthewolf4572]

@@matthewwilliams3643 Banjo is African American and modeled after the original African instrument thank you.

[@hubertsumlin9697]

Its really not fair that along with EVERYTHING ELSE she's a straight knockout. God damn, I guess some folks really do have it all! Seriously though, what a brilliant person. An american treasure and a pure channel for vernacular musical tradition. Amazing woman.

[@djharp51]

God bless her helping people understand the truth about their musical heritage. And, yes, the lower classes were the ones to give it all root.

[@blackjaguarlord]

I love you, Rhjannon!!!

[@HomeAtLast501]

You can't have her --- she's MINE!

[@blackjaguarlord]

@@HomeAtLast501 I admit my defeat to the better man! WAAAAA!

[@alohalaniboido8083]

"The Fiddler on Pantico Run: An African Warrior, His White Descendants, A Search for Family," by Joe Mozingo. His African ancestor won his freedom in court in 1672. Fascinating book and history.

[@williamlane6124]

Dock Boggs was considered to be one of the major anchors of American music. He was taught how to play the banjo by a black gentleman with "Blue flecked eyes".....I love this man for teaching my main banjo hero the right of it. The banjo will never be a "white" instrument. It belongs to the roots of civilisation. It is older than the hills and valleys it's voice speaks of. Never, ever forget that.

[@writerrad]

this is an exaggeration,. the foundation of Boggs playing was being deeply grounded in claw hammer on one side and obviously learning wht is now called the classic or parlor banjo side. He attempted to add the syncopation he heard from Black banjo finger pickers and above all from the jazz blues records that he learned songs like Sweet Sunny South From. He was close friends with Mississippi John Hurt and did say if he had to do it all over again he would have become a finger picking blues guitarist like HurtI have studied Boggs for years and even played Boggs' banjo a few times

[@patrickderp1044]

nah its clearly white music because as white musicians have declined so has everyone else. whites were teaching them how to play lol

[@banjothemanjo362]

@@writerrad he never played clawhammer.

[@banjothemanjo362]

@@patrickderp1044 look up the akonting. The banjo is a black instrument developed and stolen by whites. Miss me with your whitewashed version of history.

[@religionisatragedy8537]

@@banjothemanjo362 naw

[@DETmichigan-yy6lf]

Beautiful intelligent VERY talented woman...

[@ZachVance108]

Man I wish they would have documented alot more of the old black banjer pickers 😭😭😭😭

[@j.reu.s9540]

check out some of Cecilia Conway's research - she's done a lot to document more of the old Afro-American traditions in Appalachia and Rhiannon builds a lot on top of her work!

[@nartron3000]

why? who cares? do you know any white banjo players from that time? its stupidity

[@ZachVance108]

@@nartron3000 Damn booooooooi ! Where do you buy a heap of ignorance like that ?

[@nartron3000]

@@ZachVance108 why? oh because all you people think about is complexion? so im the ignorant one LOL. read the bible chump we all come from one creator, bickering back and forth about race only divides us further from the HUMAN RACE. What a nutter. Go back to school booooooooi!

[@jonathanbadness]

@@nartron3000 there are actually dozens of well documented white banjo players from that period.

[@gonerydin4225]

Love your music Miss Giddens.

[@jennboyermusic]

Thank you for this!

[@pdejesus8489]

I saw your performance recently in Austin Texas. Enjoyed it and have seen a couple of you You a Tube videos.

[@maryalderete8051]

Amazing lecture. Thank you. (And your playing and singing are incredible.)

[@Pere1966...]

Care yourself, stay safe!!! Due your Beatiful photo...You're Latin or spanish (I am). Regards

[@barrypayton2832]

Great reference to Congo Square in New Orleans. The banza banjo was/ is essential to the musical circles here. Benjamin Latrobe made an illustration of a West African banza as well as a host of other percussive instruments played in Cong Square. Thank you .

[@richardblackledge7402]

Please come and play in Australia.Your music is amazing.

[@johnmartlew5897]

She is a brilliant voice in a crazed world of un nameable ........I can listen to her sing, talk, drop something on the floor, close a door, any thing. I’m listening girl. Make a sound. I’m your audience.

[@heathermalcolm4804]

Totally!!!

[@rippedtorn2310]

Love her music ..very deep ,profound and beautiful stuff . Hello from scotland keep on keepin on .

[@AllenBarclayAllen]

Thank you for setting the record straight Rhiannon ..! And the Banjo is better louder for singer back up than acoustical guitar . Now explain that to my son , he just dont listen ..!

[@GeorgeCampbell1964]

Awesome piece of history!👍

[@robertward2888]

Very insightful, extremely interesting. Talented, lovely, educated musician.

[@Ratguitar58]

Thank you ❤

[@stonepony46]

thank you for keeping history a live

[@mrsscattycathy]

? the first record I heard as a kid was a Pete Seeger album and I now in my 61 r year starting to play 5 string banjo or trying to.That history is so dense and so hidden and so sad .

[@aranos6269]

There is a clip of ali faki toure, mali guitarist (outstanding) playing a mali instrument. The traditional style of his playing is exactly the clawhammer banjo style.

[@patrickcolvin4478]

Lovely banjo picking Rhiannon ☘️☘️☘️

[@johnarmlovesguam]

Love RG:)

[@MrScvet]

She is brilliant, gorgeous and enormously talented!

[@LamiNalchor]

love her

[@denisenadeau5243]

wow she is wonderful thanks t

[@FlatlandMando]

Towards the end, you speak about travelling to Europe with banjo, etc. Is this how the Irishtenor banjo development happened? I've often wondered as the 4 string GDAE tuning is different from " Appalachian" 5 string banjo. By the way, really enjoy you as a player, as a singer & as an intellectual.

[@SuleDrum]

Banjo comes to Europe/UK via minstrel players. Irish banjo is tuned in fifths, as is fiddle and mandolin.

[@OurnameisLegion66]

Comming to the UK???

[@davidtyson6869]

Good evening my name is David Tyson I have never in my life taking any lessons for banjo however one day I went into a pawn shop curiosity I picked up a banjo at that moment the whole store was in maze how's my banjo playing was so professional I am so curious on how I know how to play a banjo I love that instrument because that instrument whose secrets to a black man's life thank you

[@SuleDrum]

Did you get a response yet?

[@MSILBB]

One issue I take with is this idea of Africans arriving to America having first been "seasoned" in the Caribbean It's grossly overrepresented and misunderstood. The majority of Africans imported to America, came directly from Africa. Roughly 60,000 Africans from the Caribbean were imported to America; there were nearly 400,000 direct imports from Africa to America.

[@roylle6346]

Caribbean people never stopped coming to America even under the British quota up until many a these countries gained independence. In new Orleans the black immigrants doubled the population and impacted the culture greatly. Black Americans weren't going with anything nowhere in America without the migrants from the Caribbean

[@AllanTheBanjo]

Fascinating information. I would say in defence of Cecil Sharp that he was the Appalachians specifically seeking songs from people of English decent. He would most likely have bypassed German, Irish and Dutch as well as black singers.

[@smbonner22]

AllanTheBanjo Stop!

[@goodgrieflouiser5807]

Very interesting. I had read that the banjo was introduced to the new world by the slaves. They also brought rice with them as well. There was no rice grown in the americas until the slavs brought the grain here.

[@rickihosein]

And they were the ones that tended to them cause they knew how to...black people have given soo much...we are more than just slaves

[@MrScvet]

Damn real history!!

[@cvscards1]

great vid! only thing... calling the banjo indigenous american music ignores the fact that the indigenous people of this continent also had their music which would truly be called indigenous american music. This doesn't detract from the value of african-american musical traditions though!

[@religionisatragedy8537]

If it comes from America it is indigenous,doesn't Matter if its precolumbian or not

[@banjothemanjo362]

@@religionisatragedy8537 lol you're a real peach, aren't you?

[@religionisatragedy8537]

@@banjothemanjo362 are you just looking for comments to disagree with?

[@banjothemanjo362]

@@religionisatragedy8537 are you trying to be this woefully ignorant?

[@religionisatragedy8537]

@@banjothemanjo362 Are you?

[@matthewwilliams3643]

The modern day banjo is way different than the instrument that came to America from Africa

[@greenmentch]

Middle English is way different than American English yet its still the basis for what we speak today. The Model T Ford is way different than the Ford F150. The point is that when we understand the root of things, we can see how we are all part of a common tapestry. Lest we think the universe revolves around the old US of A.

[@lapun47]

@@greenmentch I think his point might be that the neck is flat rather than round.

[@roylle6346]

The first car ever made is like nothing today so what's your point? You think you said something don't you?

[@mikegager]

wonder why there arent more modern era black banjo players?

[@greenmentch]

Because all of this history was lost. And because of the black face minstrelsy, the banjo became a symbol of black disparagement instead of an object of cultural continuity.

[@themaggattack]

greenmentch Thank you for bringing it back and educating people on the true history.

[@Odin029]

Styles change. The banjo was used in black jazz bands into the 1930s. There are actually videos on youtube of 30s era big bands with banjos playing rhythm instead of acoustic guitars. But for the most part Black Americans are looking for the new hot thing, especially in the 20th century. Big band jazz morphs into bebop or R&B. There was jump blues, on to soul, funk etc. And once the Black mainstream latched onto a new style, the old one was left behind for anybody who wanted it. It's happened over and over again, and is sort of still happening today. There are of course Black people who play older styles of music, but not many in the grand scheme.

[@greenmentch]

"Black Americans are looking for the new hot thing"... I'm not sure what that exactly means. Musicians in general want to get paid just like everyone else. If blacks aren't being hired to play the music they want to play because the record industry has decided they need to be playing blues or jazz, then that's what you're going to do or get out and do something else. The point is that black music became commercial white music and black musicians were hung out to dry to such an extent that most people don't even associate the music they brought to America with them anymore. Not sure this has anything to do with the "next new thing."

[@Odin029]

I think you've giving mainstream commercial success too much credit here. Many black musicians were earning a living playing to all black audiences before white people started coming to their shows or buying their records. Fats Domino said that he'd been playing what became known as rock n roll for 15 years in New Orleans before he ever had a hit. The young white kids loved Fats music all the way into the 60s but the Black kids had moved on years earlier. In 1950 Muddy Waters had wraparound crowds from Chicago to Miami and in between with all Black audiences, but by 1960 it was half and half. By 1970 there were hardly any Black people in Muddy's crowds and yet he was playing bigger halls than in his heyday. It's just that young white people were paying to see him now. The Black kids had moved on to Sly and Family Stone or Parliament by then. A decade later Funk's out. Disco's about to go out too. The thing is... all that music is derived from the music that was brought to America by their ancestors. It's built on what comes before, but Black people in the US don't have a tendency to want to look back to grasp at their roots. Most people actually recoil at thinking back too far into their history. That's somewhat reflected in how Black Americans treat their old musical styles.

[@gymover]

You are so pretty it makes my heart sing.

[@jameslumley2463]

It seems like its about the "narrative" and then that brings it around to who is telling the story. But the beauty of music is it has it's own tale to tell and it is not about color but sound.

[@darz3829]

Stringed instruments that used a skin soundboard came from Africa, yes, but also Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and other countries all around the same time and even earlier. So when she says it's a truly American instrument, that's not exactly true. I might point out that we are experiencing some lost history of the Black banjo today. People are disregarding the banjo from the jazz age, but what's worse, there are just a handful of Blacks who are aware of who those Black jazz pioneers were. In fact, white musicians today who know about this outnumber Blacks by far. And right now, the number of Black jazz banjoists is very small indeed.

[@roylle6346]

Many blacks should credit the Afro Cubans and Haitians for jazz

[@darz3829]

@@roylle6346 It is acknowledged that jazz started around 1898 (although it probably bore little resemblance to what we think of as early jazz until 1906). The earliest recordings came out in 1917. That jazz featured particular song structures, melody/harmony interplay, chords, sophisticated (mostly European) instruments, ad lib solos and ensembles, lyrics, against a solid 4/4 or 2/4 rhythm. That lasted until 1931 when "swing" elements showed up and were added to them. But except for infrequent novelty ethnic bands, the features of African, Caribbean, and Latin were not prevalent in "jazz." the vast majority of recordings from that time were similar during the jazz age. When talking about jazz, white and Black musicians each are responsible for roughly the same amount of contributions (although each had a different flavor).

[@roylle6346]

@@darz3829 after the great migration of Haitians in new Orleans in the " early" 1800s what culture did black Americans have. If no Caribbean influence then why jolly roll Morton say "jazz ain't jazz if it doesn't have a Spanish tinge to it"? Where did that Spanish come from? Afro Cubans ofcourse. Definitely not Spain. New Orleans was literally dubbed as the little Caribbean or the northern most state of the Caribbean. So have a seat

[@darz3829]

@@roylle6346 Jelly (not "jolly") spent lots of time playing in Mexico. He even named some of his tunes with Mexican names. (Like Tijuana."). But his "Spanish tinge" remark was made in 1938, long after early jazz. And he said ".In fact, if you can't manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz." Not "jazz ain't jazz, etc." Morton also patterned many of his tunes after 3 part military tunes of the era. And no one will dispute them being classic New Orleans jazz tunes. Many more did NOT have the "tinge."

[@alternativetentacles1760]

Lil Nas X has dominated the billboard chart for a month with a song that features the banjo. #1 in 2019 on the Hot 100.

[@talpark8796]

Eager hammer finds neverending pallets of nails?

[@petergallant1421]

wonderful educator,sweet lady and super talented singer/songwriter/player.

[@geraldButtry]

I though her main instrument was the fiddle and she can really make that talk and hit some har note with the girl in the blue dress

[@babalooey100]

You know!

[@r.r.2660]

babalooey100 thank you a lot. Now I hear every "you know"... ;)

[@thinhipps]

Lost no more...

[@musik102]

Rhiannon is a bit confused. Talk about trying to rewrite history! Cecil Sharp's mission in visiting the Appalachian area was to collect variants and versions of English and Scottish folk songs as sung by descendants of immigrants from the British Isles. Now, imagine a collector visiting the Mississippi delta blues area to look for traces of African music in the music of African American musicians and then some white person complaining that the music of white musicians was being ignored. I still love Rhiannon, though!

[@pvman2]

I really wish Ken Burns had started his County Music documentary with this explanation (history) to set the context of how the roots of “the common man’s” music evolved.

[@susantan7129]

He definitely should have ...also more on artists who were ignored by the establishment. From the many black and native musicians from the 19th and 20th century to the 21st century and show how badly the Dixie Chicks, ow The Chicks,... Were treated in the states.... not elsewhere in the world, but in the states their own country ! A documentary should be done on how many artists were punished and or ignored, because of being different or having the courage to speak out . That is priceless musical history. 🙏

[@jeffreycrews8311]

Sigh...for his "talking heads" Burns relies on the same old cadre of American historians, and ignores more recent research and voices. So he misses a *lot* when it comes to women and people of color. But I guess its a formula that works for him.

[@robleeatheart]

Rhiannon, you know the ngroni? ... ancestor of the banjo ...

[@malumenten]

♥️🥰😍♥️🥰😍🌺🌻😘

[@digitaldemocracyai-rob]

The banjo landed in the U.K. before the US. You look Filipina. Where's that original banjar music?

[@danielhuber4953]

Dear Rhiannon. Dont get lost in thinking about the past. Form the future! LOVE

[@greenmentch]

The past informs the future. To shape the future, one overlooks the past at their peril.

[@alondathomas293]

She's talking about American history, not just the past.

[@rhiannonlaffan5492]

Dear Daniel! Don't look forward without knowing the past. That is an excellent way to fall right into a hole. Love back atcha!

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

Rrhiannon would have a sharp answer to your comment.

[@user-kh9ki3kq8m]

She’s such a level headed person. I love how she speaks about oppression and doesn’t place herself into it as if she’s a victim like a lot of people do now.

[@tigera10030]

Umm that’s all you could take away from this.... not how incredibly knowledgeable both in depth and laterally she is in this snippet?

[@alondathomas293]

Excuse me? Just because she's not talking about racism in the present day dosen't mean that it dosen't exist. And talking about today's racism is not "putting yourself into it as if you're a victim", so you can move on with bullshit.

[@tigera10030]

Kirk Wood lol what? I literally said you are only concerned with the fact that she is not talking as a victim not the fact she is talking almost like an anthropologist/musicologist. I said nothing about modern day racism. But obviously it exists, I have witnessed it first hand.

[@robcrawford9657]

I get ya!

[@annacsillag7247]

tigera10030; I assumed he was responding to the original comment, not yours.

[@58landman]

It is a certainty that the africans who were gathered from the shores of Western Africa and bound for slave markets didn't drag along any instrument with them upon capture but it is feasible and likely that later and while in captivity those same wild africans did concoct various instruments that were typically one or two string affairs with some kind of skin head that played a droning noise used to mark time in dances and songs. The earliest roots of the banjo appear to originate in the early muslim world, again as a droning instrument for chanting, but the modern banjo was actually invented by a white man in Virginia well after the advent of the introduction of slaves in the US and the earliest known public performance on banjo was played by a white guy. Blacks no doubt played them but It is a bit mythical to ascribe the invention, development and popularization of the instrument to blacks and if you study any of the early examples of traditional black musicality you will often see some early guitar but you'll seldom see a banjo. Blacks were not big banjo enthusiasts and they didn't simply drift away from that aspect of their culture. The truth is that instrument was never very important to them.

[@rhiannonlaffan5492]

It is not a certainty, my friend - african musicians were known to have been kidnapped precisely for the purpose of 'dancing' the slaves. Do we know how many of these instruments survived? of course not - but it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Also, the modern banjo was not invented by 'a white man in virginia' - it certainly took the turn it did into the minstrel banjo by white musicians, which no one denies, but there were multiple people involved, from Sweeney to Boucher (who most likely got the tuning head idea from tambos being imported from Europe). As to the rest of your assertion, I just don't have the time to refute it- there's plenty of good scholarship out there, from Epstein to Sublette etc etc etc that shows how important the banjo was to black culture, how tied it was to black culture by the white commercial culture, and how blacks left and were forced from, the 5-string banjo and it's music. To casually state something like "blacks were not big banjo enthusiasts' is breathtaking in its wrongness. Over and out.

[@SuleDrum]

I assume you're looking for a fight here, with "wild africans", et cetera....... If it does mean anything to you, do as Ms. Laffan suggests: look it up.

[@SuleDrum]

It seems, 58landman, you've written this post, spoiling for a fight. "Wild africans"; indeed! If this subject is of import to you, I suggest you take Ms. Laffan's suggestion: do some research.

[@bcole1240]

We taught you how to play the banjo your music is black music.

[@roylle6346]

The banjo was created in the Caribbean not by no damn white man wtf!

[@samsquanchoverland]

i think you forgot the french played side by side with the African Americans back in 1755!

[@SuleDrum]

Over a century after Africans were building culture in "New World"

[@roylle6346]

The French creoles from Haiti did inspire all African American music

[@SupaNami]

You LOOK MIXED ... but the Banjo isn't African!

[@roylle6346]

It's Caribbean

[@SupaNami]

@@roylle6346 Nope, it's not

[@roylle6346]

@@SupaNami the first documented history of the banjo predates the time it surfaced in America. Caribbean 1600s North America 1700s You need receipts?

[@SupaNami]

@@roylle6346 Lies ... WIki is all lies but yes post it from wiki!

[@roylle6346]

@@SupaNami Wikipedia is all lies only when it hurts your soul 😂. Ok so Wikipedia says an Haitian founded Chicago is it a lie? Btw my link is not from Wikipedia. Wikipedia actually gloss over the subject..jokes on you

[@Dumptruck1738]

Fix your mixing, I feel like Amouranth is licking my ear while I listen to this.

[@victoriaeads6126]

This lady, she's intelligent, she's smart, she's talented....uhhhmm...explain to me how a person of color is supposedly 'lesser' again? Ooooohhh, right. That's bull.

[@aybee5908]

The wrinkles on her forehead makes her look two days older. She`s an impressive woman, indeed. I love the fretless Banjo sound and her voice of course.

[@robleeatheart]

Sorry, n'goni ... ngroni or negroni is a cocktail

[@TrueBlueJMS]

Kangz

[@SmashinAdams]

Not sure all of her facts are 100; perhaps an African may have brought a fiddle, but you DID have Indian fiddlers in the antebellum south & other places...and she knows this. I feel she's reaching for a niche, which should never be on the basis of falsehood. not even a little.

[@MJ-hg1mk]

For sale of discussion - let's say u r correct... Shame shame on the lady for going a bit far in order to reset D.Whiteman's history? Okay, got it.

[@SmashinAdams]

@@MJ-hg1mk - Uh...I do believe my ancestors who had the 2-stringed fiddle would beg to differ...Much Love.

[@caringdevotionals2952]

She bases her identity in victimhood.

[@jaxthewolf4572]

"Victimhood" is y'all fave word yet y'all act like victims

[@dontplaywithgod2064]

@@jaxthewolf4572 care to clarify?

[@goodear1540]

Hey wait everybody...lets make the banjo about race. This lady is clueless.

[@greenmentch]

Maybe learn a little bit about history before you comment about something you obviously know nothing about.

[@jamestucker457]

Take it down a few notches Rhiannon. You've got fiddle and banjo being so overly deparmentalized as being black, that you need to even the score here quite a bit. No doubt there is a shared venture into the bluegrass influences (including Mississippi, and Bayou),. However every lute like instrument was handed down through many, many cultures. Sorry, but you're being just a little too "black" in your assessment of influences. Pretty biased account here, and that's also a sad part of what is ACTUAL historical truth. You'd benefit by being far more accurate, and less one sided (sighted). You've taken "History of the black banjo" and try to make it "History of the banjo". Something, obviously far beyond your reach.

[@charlieslack3313]

Dude really

[@MJ-hg1mk]

You sound reasonable. But you've offered ZERO support for your Op Ed... Well, except for the existing record - which was no doubt overwhelmingly written AND edited by euro Americans - mostly males no doubt... Yup! They got a great record of (whole) truth telling.

[@ianmorton140]

didn't realise how such an incredibly gifted musician could grow so racist against the melting pot that "musically" is America. American music is so diverse from soooo many cultures it is so unique. That is why so many countries follow the modern American trend. And to insult Cecil Sharp because he wasn't "Black Enough" is an outrage. Cecil Sharp has kept a whole range of traditional, local folk & music alive. And even has a museum in his name. To label him anti black is an outrage!

[@SuleDrum]

I guess you were listening with jaded ears. Not "Anti-Black"; merely not interested..... AND, Ms. Laffan makes a point of saying Sharpe did contribute and save much.

[@davideddy2672]

Cecil Sharp - incredible the man ever made the bottom step, let alone being put upon a pedestal for his ‘work’ ...

[@jaxthewolf4572]

Guess what, American music is not one race!

[@smbonner22]

How was he not "black enough" when he was an immigrant from England. You prove people say the most idiot things on the internet. I can tell you're an extremely ignorant person!

[@smbonner22]

@@jaxthewolf4572 sure as hell not the WHITE race

[@tuforu4]

wonder does trump know this..

[@themaggattack]

Trump don't know shit about anything to do with soul, only money. Frederick Douglass is still alive, as far as he knows or cares.

[@splitpitch]

MrPecker III, after your suggestion to research this, a quick google shows you are wrong in at least one of your statements about Wanda Sykes. From one site..."An episode of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012) stated that Wanda’s matrilineal ninth great-grandmother, named Elizabeth Banks, who was a white indentured servant. Elizabeth had a daughter named, Mary Banks, whose father was a black slave (ethnicelebs.com/wanda-sykes) .In an interview, Wanda Sykes says her ancestry discoveries included finding out she had a Scottish gr gr.. grandmother who got 'down with a slave'...thereby making babies ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/iae4pqN7hpp7ocU at about the 1 minute mark). I stopped watching there so I can't say if the clip substantiated your other claim about her being related to slavers or not, but it does discredit your first claim "nobody in her family were ever slaves in the USA". Quite ironic really, that in a comment where you complain that others are stupid and close minded and make ignorant comments, you make one yourself.

[@jacquesblaque7728]

MrPecker I I I With all your trash talk about Democrats, do you realize the primary result of Nixon's Southern Strategy? Republicans assumed the mantle of the KKK, and all that implies. Talk about smug, close-minded.

[@1930Granada]

tuforu4 How in the name of God does this have to do with banjers?