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Slaves Arrive in America
Blues music was initially a folk music popular among former slaves living in the Mississippi Delta -
Bluesman Discovered
W.C Handy finds a man playing slide guitar with a knife at a train station -
First Blues Song Recorded
W.C Handy's "Memphis Blues" is published as sheet music -
Robert Johnson
Legendary Delta Blues artist Robert Johnson begins his short recording career -
Electric Guitar Introduced
Eddie Durham records the first music featuring the electric guitar, this makes way for the evolution of blues music in the form of Chicago Electric Blues -
Muddy Waters Recorded
Chicago Blues artist McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters is recorded -
"Rhythm and Blues" is Born
Jerry Wexler, an editor at Billboard magazine, substitutes the term "rhythm and blues" for the older "race" records. -
B.B. King
B.B. King has his first major rhythm and blues hit with a version of "Three O'Clock Blues." -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education, a unanimous judgment in favor of school desegregation and reintegration -
Elvis Debuts
Elvis Presley makes his recording debut on Sun Records with a version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right." -
The Country Blues Published
Samuel Charters publishes The Country Blues, fueling the blues element of the folk music revival. -
British Invasion
The first U.S. tour by the Rolling Stones marks the invasion of British blues rock bands. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer, the civil rights campaign to register Black voters, draws young whites to the South. -
Delta Bluesmen Perform
The recently "rediscovered" Delta bluesmen Son House and Skip James perform at the Newport Folk Festival. -
White Fan Base
Muddy Waters and B.B. King perform at the Fillmore East, a concert venue in the East Village region of New York City, to a predominantly white audience. -
"Year of the Blues" Declared
Congress declares 2003 the "Year of the Blues," commemorating the 100th anniversary of W.C. Handy's encounter with an unknown early bluesman at a train station in Mississippi.
