owned; its influence became prominent in the music styles of the time, and in the intertwining relationships between the races. The music was a unique and cultural offering that whites could not deny. It was something new and intriguing to whites that shed a new light on blacks and their place in American culture and society. The music did not seem to have the same color restrictions as the music previously performed. It drew bl!
             acks and whites together in a place where everyone could leave the Jim Crow laws at the door. This offered a new and beneficial lifestyle for the blacks as well as the whites. Maybe the interest was that the white people had found a new talent to exploit and from which to make easy money. Or, perhaps it was because the whites genuinely understood the cultural significance in the music and respected this talent of the black race enough to overcome racial and cultural differences.
             While their music was obviously something these slaves were using to keep their African heritage, the whites believed that their music was an e
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