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How Circus Bands Spread African American Music | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

9th Grade – 12th Grade

English

Discover how cornet player and bandleader P. G. Lowery helped bring the music of Black musicians into mainstream popular culture in the early 20th century, in this video from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Lowery, who grew up in a musical family, trained at the prestigious Boston Conservatory of Music. At a time when American society limited opportunities for Blacks, the traveling circus provided Lowery and other Black musicians with better treatment and guaranteed pay.