Skip to main content
  • Video: Was Lead Belly a protest singer? A conversation with NMAAHC director Lonnie Bunch III

    Although Lead Belly sang songs such as "Bourgeois Blues" and "Jim Crow Blues," was he a protest singer? Hear historian and director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Lonnie Bunch III’s take on the subject.

    Read more about Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection

    Watch videos of Lonnie Bunch discussing Lead Belly and of archivist Jeff Place on the box set and Lead Belly’s legacy.

    Year Released: 2015

    Video: Was Lead Belly a protest singer? A conversation with NMAAHC director Lonnie Bunch III | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings