From the introductory page of classroom resources for teaching African history in America, the Library of Congress says this:
“Today, there is no aspect of life in the United States that has not been touched by the African American experience; there is no institution, custom, or daily practice that has not been influenced or remade by the efforts of African American thinkers, workers, artists, activists, and organizers.” https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/african/
And that is expressed in the Symphony No. 2: Song of a New Race by African American composer William Grant Still. In the 1920s, Still envisioned a trilogy of works depicting the African American experience that eventually emerged as, first, his Symphonic poem “Africa” evoking roots from the continent; second, his “Symphony #1: Afro-American,” being life in America up to emancipation and; third, the “Symphony #2: Song of a New Race” as representing the now integrated man, both a product of and influential creator of an integrated society. In other words, all three works follow from arrival IN America through black influence ON America. The 1937 “Symphony #2: Song of a New Race” is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
