The exhibition Wade in the Water tells the story of African American religious music, starting with indigenous African musical and spiritual traditions. The exhibitions Crossroads and A Love Supreme (the latter uses the name of the iconic album by jazz pioneer John Coltrane) focus on blues and jazz, respectively. One Nation Under a Groove (the title of the classic Funkadelic) tells the story of R&B from World War II to its contemporary counterpart. The final exhibition The Message (Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five) traces the development of rap / hip-hop from its origins in the South Bronx to its global impact.
NMAAM also hosts several mini-exhibitions, including The Business Behind the Music. Sponsored by Sony Music Group, the exhibition highlights pioneering black industry executives such as Logan H. Westbrooks (Capitol, Mercury, CBS and Source Records), as well as record labels and publishers that have played important roles in music history.
Lewis joined NMAAM in 2018 after serving as a research assistant for the music and performing arts curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History. In collaboration with NMAAM President H. Beecher Hicks III, the museum’s advisory committee and two additional curators, Lewis has spent the past three years collecting more than 1,400 artifacts to display. After a structure was defined for what the museum could include, says Lewis, “we looked for items to illustrate and interpret the story we were trying to convey”.
For example, museum visitors will see a trombone donated by Helen Jones Woods, a trombonist for International Sweethearts of Rhythm – the country’s first all-female interracial band. (Woods, the mother of Urban One’s founder / president, Cathy Hughes, died last August.) Other artifacts include a guitar borrowed from the BB King Museum, as well as a cape and wig donated by Funkadelic Parliament frontman George Clinton.
Equally important is the impact that African American artists have had on NMAAM’s hometown. “Nashville stories are woven across space,” said Lewis. Among those featured prominently in these stories is Dr. Bobby Jones, host of the longest BET series Bobby Jones Gospel and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Lewis adds that a future temporary exhibition dedicated to the Fisk Jubilee Singers will take a closer look at Nashville’s black history.
NMAAM is open on Saturdays and Sundays; visitors must reserve tickets at certain times. Visit nmaam.org for more information.