https://youtu.be/MnAQATKRBN0

Sister Rosetta Tharpe ‘Did’t It Rain’, 1948

Despite what you’ve heard, Rock & Roll was innovated and once dominated by Black people. Just like jazz, blues and hip-hop, Rock was gifted to American culture by individuals who barely get their proper recognition. Some like to say that Rock doesn’t have one originator, but if anyone can claim that title, its sister Rosetta Tharpe. 

Rosetta Tharpe was born 103 years ago—March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, twenty years before Elvis, a decade before Chuck Berry. And she could play the rock and roll guitar better than anyone, before anyone.

Tharpe’s mother Katie was also a singer and a mandolin player, evangelist, and preacher for the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). Encouraged by her mother, Tharpe began singing and playing the guitar at the age of four and was cited as a musical prodigy.

In her day, it was mostly men who played the guitar. And not much has changed, except rock guitar players are even whiter, as the music gets farther from its roots in blues and R&B. And yet, there she is, proof positive that there was a super talented woman blowing minds a half decade before Chess Records coalesced in Chicago and a full decade before Elvis Presley ever even walked into Sun Records in Memphis. This isn’t to take anything away from later rock artists, who obviously extended the genre in ways that were good and interesting. But when we think of the pantheon of great rock figures, Sister Rosetta Tharpe should be at the front of the chronological list. Period.

Although Elvis Presley obviously didn’t invent Rock & Roll, he was still inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nearly 30 years before his predecessors Tharpe and Berry. There’s no hiding the fact that many Black contributions that molded American society from science to art were stripped, renamed and reclaimed. Imagine if 100 years from now hip-hop is considered a “white” genre. Ask yourself, is there anything in place that would preserve hip-hop being closely associated with the Black community?

Sister Rosetta Tharpe died in 1973 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on May 5, 2018. May her name forever live on and be mentioned among the greats, as it should.