This is historical material “frozen in time”. The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.
We the people ask the federal government to Take or explain a position on an issue or policy:

Induct Sister Rosetta Thorpe into the Rock and Roll HOF. The true origin of R&R was overlooked for being a black woman.

Created by J.P. on October 18, 2016

A major injustice to the black community and to Rock & Roll is the absence of Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the R&R Hall of Fame. To the black community because she (and black history) was ignored for being the influence of nearly every musician in the inaugural class of the HOF. I believe she was purposely forgotten simply because she was a black woman.
Her first hit, "This Train" was recorded in 1939, more than a decade before guys like Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash came along with the R&R sound. Every one of those guys cited her as an influence. If you can't hear the song "Johnny B. Good" (Chuck Berry, 1958) in her RIF's, you are hopeless.
She was a gospel performer, but it appears she may have been the single source of R&R and deserves proper credit.

Civil Rights & Equality
Innovation: Arts & Technology
Return to top