A musical project sheds light on Boston’s Black labor history

Amelia Mason, WUBR

When Rhiannon Giddens became artistic director of the Silkroad Ensemble in 2020, she knew she wanted to do something big. Silkroad was founded in 1998 by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who brought together preeminent musicians from around the globe to make ambitious, genre-bending music. Giddens, whose career has focused on the Black roots of American folk music, wanted her first project with the group to explore American history.

“It literally just hit me like a ton of bricks,” Giddens said. “Thinking about the transcontinental railroad, you have so many of the immigrant groups that were already represented within the Silkroad Ensemble.”

And so the album and podcast “American Railroad” was born. The music was inspired by the people who worked on the railroad — convict laborers, Chinese and Irish immigrants, African American train porters — as well as by the Indigenous tribes displaced by it. Silkroad interviewed historians and produced a five-episode podcast delving into some of the stories that informed the music.

“The whole point was to focus on the people who haven’t previously been in focus, because the underclass are treated as throwaway in this society,” Giddens said.

Continue reading to learn more or listen to the podcast.

Another recent project reveals similar Black history.

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