performers wore blackface, mocking Black people and aspects of Black life. The Fisk Jubilee Singers were dignified and helped to elevate spirituals as an art form.

In the 1920s, jazz became the most popular musical genre. Born in Congo Square in New Orleans, jazz was an agglomeration of rhythms derived from West African cultures and melodies derived from European classical music. However, as with rock-and-roll in the 1950s, white producers and musicians recognized the profitability of jazz and made some efforts to keep Black people from benefiting from the music they had invented. The first jazz band to release an album was the New Orleanian group the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which cut its first LP in 1917. The group's lead on cornet, Nick LaRocca, tried to take credit for inventing jazz—dismissing the music's Black originators. LaRocca, who was of Sicilian descent, incorporated the local Black influence with the music of his native Sicily to produce a new sound.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band appeared on their first album cover. For many years, well into the 1950s, record companies avoided putting images of jazz musicians onto the covers of their albums to avoid losing sales. Similarly, in the 1950s, white producers used white musicians to sell Black music.

Rock-and-roll—supposedly named for the movements of love-making—had become hugely popular by the 1950s. Derived from the raunchy Blues produced decades earlier by Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, as well as the Delta Blues of musicians like Muddy Waters, rock-and-roll resonated with teenagers who were eager for a newer and freer mode of expression in the morally stifling 1950s. Once again, the inventors of the music were Black, but the primary consumers were white. Producers needed white musicians to sell the music. The best-known artist from this period, Elvis Presley, sang songs originated by Black singers. One of his most popular, "Hound Dog," was originated by a Black female Blues singer named Big Mama Thornton.

British rock musicians—the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and, later, Led Zeppelin—also rose to prominence by singing rock and Blues songs that had been written by Black musicians. There were some Black musicians who achieved fame, including Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry, but none ever became as famous or as wealthy as their white counterparts.

The Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties were known for their extreme income disparity. During the Gilded Age, the captains of industry controlled most of the wealth of the United States while urban factory workers struggled to get by. Things were better during the Roaring Twenties as the United States had a growing middle class but factory workers still faced layoffs and farmers were destitute throughout the decade. During the 1950s, the middle class performed the best as families were able to buy houses and cars. Middle-class parents also expected to send their sons and daughters off to college or into the workforce where they could expect good-paying jobs that were protected by unions with the reward of a pension at the end of a long career at one corporation. While the richest in the United States still made their millions, they were taxed more heavily than at any time in American history.

The three periods you mention were also known for their racial turmoil. Lynchings affected African Americans in all three periods. During the Gilded Age attacks against blacks were common in the South. During the Roaring Twenties cities such as Chicago had race riots as Northerners feared for their jobs. During the 1950's there was turmoil over segregation—this would continue into the next decade as well.

The three periods you mention are also known for their innovations and mass culture. The Gilded Age saw the popularization of baseball and electricity. The Roaring Twenties saw the popularization of radio, movies with sound, and the expansion of the auto industry. The 1950s saw the expansion of television and rock music. All of these innovations and trends helped to fuel a growing consumer economy during each of the periods.

The Gilded Age, the Roaring Twenties, and the 1950s all saw significant economic, cultural, and political changes across the United States. All three periods are marked by significant changes for black folks in America. In the Gilded Age, the period that immediately followed reconstruction, many black folks migrated North to work factory and port jobs after the failed attempt at radical reconstruction, which was due to vigilante and state-based white supremacist violence. In the 1920s, black folks made concerted effort to further civil rights after so many black soldiers fought in WWI, only to return home to massive discrimination and white supremacist violence. In the 1950s, once again, black folks fought for major transformations, which was spurred in part by black soldiers returning home from WWII in the 1940s and facing severe discrimination.

The Gilded Age, Roaring Twenties, and the 1950s were all also period of significant economic change in U.S. history. The period after reconstruction saw a massive shift towards industrialization and a move away from an agrarian-based economy. During the 20s, the United States experienced a massive economic boom after its victorious military battles in WWI. The U.S. was able to profit immensely from the war time economy. Similarly after WWII, the United States experienced an economic boom as a result of war time economy.