‘1619,’ Episode 3: The Birth of American Music

Today on “The Daily,” we present Episode 3 of “1619,” a New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones. You can find more information about it at nytimes.com/1619podcast.

Black music, forged in captivity, became the sound of complete artistic freedom. It also became the sound of America. Guest: Wesley Morris, a critic-at-large for The New York Times.

This episode contains explicit language.

Background reading:

• “The proliferation of black music across the planet — the proliferation, in so many senses, of being black — constitutes a magnificent joke on American racism,” Wesley Morris writes.
• The “1619” audio series is part of The 1619 Project, a major initiative from The Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. Read more from the project here.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.