Innovations that Built America

As we celebrate Black History Month at The Channel Company, we recognize how music influences the hearts, minds, and souls of America. Black artists are innovators, carving out new genres of American music and artistic expressions.

As music journalist and podcast host Sidney Madden points out “Every genre that is born from America has Black roots.” Check out this blog from Pandora to discover the 30 Times Black Music Changed the World and to learn more about the impact that Black music has made on America.

• Inventions: Black inventors and innovators created everything from GPS (Gladys West) and golf tees (Dr. George Grant), to lawn mowers (John Albert Burr) and improving the printing press (W.A. Lavalette).
• Film: The history of Black cinema is rich and varied. Learn from esteemed African American entertainers in the Netflix docuseries, They've Gotta Have Us.
• History: Although February is Black history month, historical education and celebration continues year-round and a great way to do that is to visit a museum or their website such as the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. or the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.