Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1849-1908): Continually Enslaved

Abstract

This work focuses on the debate surrounding the American blind black pianist Blind Tom. Born into slavery in 1849, was a musicain of amazing skill. The author asks questions about the talents of black performers, their ability to weather the dual stigmatization of racism and (in Blind Tom's case) physical disability to produce music not just worthy of rememberance but of importance to the tradition of American arts from which they were simultaneously excluded. The author doesn't just tell a tragic tale of a black musical prodigy but also investigates tangled issues of race, racism, musical skill, American culture, and the collective stereotypes that pockmarked America after the Civil War.

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