Letter: Samuel Charters’ writings on the blues asserted the humanity of the downtrodden

The conventional criticism of Samuel Charters as a pioneering writer on the blues has long been that he romanticised the music and its practitioners, especially in his first, groundbreaking book, The Country Blues. I found it a little sad that Sam later self-deprecatingly took the same view himself. Of course the book was a product of its time, 1959, but it would be a shame if its many good qualities were forgotten.

At the time, African Americans were discriminated against and oppressed at every turn. Sam’s writings were a form of political intervention, asserting both the humanity of the downtrodden and the cultural value of the blues as a timelessly expressive but neglected art form.