Contrary to the popular belief that the banjo is a truly American instrument, historians have traced its roots to the thirteenth century in West Africa. Scholar and native Gambian Laemouahuma Daniel Jatta theorizes that the banjo has evolved most directly from the akonting, a long-necked African instrument made from a calabash gourd with a goat skin stretched over it. The akonting was a unique instrument for the African people because it was not used exclusively by praise singers for spiritual songs (Allen). The akonting was an instrument that any man or woman could learn to play, making it widely-learned and played among the rural tribes of West …show more content…
To do this, the slaves were “danced” every morning, which involved forcing them to jump up and down for exercise. This “dancing” was usually accompanied by a few African instruments, most notably the African banjo, as this was one of the primary instruments the slaves had in their possession (Pettersen). Not surprisingly, after the arrival and sale of these Africans and their instruments in the United States, the banjo soon became a commonality of Southern plantation life and gained the reputation throughout the South, and more specifically, Appalachia, as a black instrument