How Enslaved African-Americans Invented the Banjo - Hardware Hack Night & Fix-it Clinic
The Hidden History of American Country Music is Black!
Our theme this month is unnamed innovators – the inventors of the American banjo who were enslaved in the American South created bluegrass and country music but are completely unknown today. Most people don’t realize that it was unheard of for white people to play the banjo up until the late 1890’s.
Also, the early US bluegrass and country musicians often had black mentors, but the black roots of country music were completely erased as a result of race segregation in record sales! We’ll go into that more, but it does make you look at American culture in an entirely different way as more of the true history comes out.
We’ll have a small history of the banjo–here Jake Blount talks about his explorations of the banjo and recovery of African-American folk music!
HACK ON ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING
○ Projects: can range from building course materials for teaching local kids electronics to a robotic arm that draws, to light projection art, to people building their own microchip boards! We provide the space, tools and peer learning – you bring your project and enthusiasm!
○ Group Sewing: Learn to do simple mending or get help with technical fabric and textile projects. In addition to regular machines our Sewing Lab features heavy-duty industrial sewing machines and sergers. Our in house sewing guru CC has worked for Academy or Art College, Tesla, SuitX, and Zipline and has vast sewing machine repair and maintenance experience; bring your own machine to tune up for tip-top operation and sew alongside others.
○ General Repair: Fix it Clinic’s weekly Oakland residency: bring your broken, non-functioning things – electronic gadgets, appliances, computers, toys, sewing machines, fabric items, etc.– for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. We’ll provide workspace, specialty tools, and guidance to help you disassemble and troubleshoot your item. First-time repairers and “Fixing Families” are heartily invited. Learn more at https://www.fixitclinic.org/