The Banjo

Universally acknowledged to be a descendent of instruments brought to America by Africans, the banjo was primarily associated with that culture until approximately 1840.  It was at this point in history that minstrelsy took the nation by storm, with white musicians dressing up in blackface and often oversized clothes, caricaturing black life and music.  Minstrel shows usually had a banjo player (in addition to fiddle, tambourine and bones), whose approach to the instrument was usually to strum the strings with the nails of the right hand using a sharp downward motion, creating a somewhat wild, violent sound.  This style of banjo playing was referred to as stroke style; and was similar to how Africans are believed to have been playing at the time.