Joel Sweeney’s Role in the Northern Migration of the Traditional Southern Black Banjo: An HGIS Approach

Using Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS), this project maps Joel Sweeney’s performances in America from 1836 to 1842 in relation to economic and social demographics of the era. These performances mark the first recordable path of the man who introduced the forerunner of what is now considered the modern banjo. His travels into the North targeted a new audience: Northern whites. These maps mark the earliest record of the traditional southern black banjo moving into popular entertainment of the North through blackface minstrelsy.