In honor of Black History Month 2025, the library has updated its resource guide spotlighting the impact of Black communities and artists in the Performing Arts. This curated list acts as a starting point for discovering the rich histories, contributions, transformations, and creative expressions of Black artists in dance, drama, and music.
The selected titles are compilations on topics centered around Black artists; many more sources on individual artists may be found in the library catalog under their respective names.
Several of these resources overlap with our other research guides. For more details on these intersections, we invite you to explore: Resources for the Repertoire: Composer Diversity and Music by Black Composers.
As always, the library welcomes your requests and suggestions.
compiled by Jane Gottlieb, February 2004;
updated February 2007; with additions November 2007;
audio resources added February 2016 by Eric Mortensen
updated February 2016, January 2017, January 2018, January 2019, January 2020, February 2021,January 2022, and January 2023 by David Snow; updated February 2025 by Olivia Buck.
The Birth of Breaking: Hip-Hop History from the Floor Up by Serouj Aprahamian
Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States by Matthew D. Morrison
Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History by Krista R. Gaddy
What a Difference a Day Makes: African American Women Who Conquered 1950s Music by Steve Bergsman
The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Changed American Culture by Courtney Thorsson
Dance We Do: a Poet Explores Black Dance by Ntozake Shange
Readying the Revolution: African American Theater and Performance Culture from post-World War II to the Black Arts Movement by Jonathan Shandell
Queer Arrangements: Billy Strayhorn and Midcentury Jazz Collaboration by Lisa Barg
Free Jazz by Jeff Schwartz
A Hound Dog Tale: Big Mama, Elvis, and the Song that Changed Everything by Ben Wynne
From Blues to Beyoncé: a Century of Black Women’s Generational Sonic Rhetorics by Alexis McGee
Black Protagonists of Early Modern Spain: Three Key Plays in Translation translated by Michael Kidd
Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century edited by Lindsay Guarino
Black Queer Dance: Gay Men and the Politics of Passing for Almost Straight by Mark Broomfield
Singing Down the Barriers: a Guide to Centering African American Song for Concert Performers by Emergy Stephens and Caroline Helton
Dreams in Double Time: on Race, Freedom, and Bebop by Jonathan Leal
Sonic Sovereignty: Hip Hop, Indigeneity, and Shifting Popular Music Mainstreams by Liz Przybylski
On Music Theory and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone by Philip Ewell
(Re:)claiming Ballet by Adesola Akinleye
Hip-Hop is History by Questlove and Ben Greenman
T.O.B.A Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theater Owners’ Booking Association in Jazz-Age America by Michelle R. Scott
South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago's Classical Music Scene by Samantha Ege