Because the Scots-Irish of Appalachia didn’t invent Americana. Or the banjo.

I have strong memories of folk music swirling through my Southern, unapologetically black childhood. Music class in elementary school meant clapping on the one and three, singing along with Burl Ives recordings and doing the hokey pokey, and learning songs like Oh, Shenandoah and The Blue-Tail Fly without an understanding of the history of violence that gave birth to them. (Jimmy crack corn, indeed.) There were folk museums to explore, and abysmally picturesque, fun-filled field days to be had that found quite a few of us zipping around a Maypole when we weren’t square dancing. Of course, these programs were in place at a time when school funding in America included movement, playing an instrument and learning about music. …