Category talk:African-American musicians

Hyphenate?
Isn't a hyphen needed here?--Sonjaaa 10:09, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)

Category inheritance
I wonder at the appropriateness of this category inheriting directly from Category:American musicians. Shouldn't there be a Category:American musicians by ethnicity in between? Otherwise the main effect would seem to be to purge all black people from Category:American musicians. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:46, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Done. -- Jmabel | Talk 18:52, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Subcategorization Proposal
I would like to subcategorize the African American musicians both by genre and by instrument. These new subcategories would be part of the African American musician heirarchy, and the articles for the individual musicians would each appear in one or more subcategories of the genre and instrument categorization, rather than in the African American musician category. The subcategories, (e.g. Category:African American trumpet players), would also appear as a related categorization in the appropriate American instrumentalist category, but would not be a heirarchical subcategory of the American instrumentalist category (it's not practical or of interest to users to categorize every American instrumentalist by ethnicity). Therefore an African American trumpet player, Louis Armstrong, for example, would appear in both Category:American trumpet players and Category:African American trumpet players.

Motivation for this recategorization are:
 * With so many individual African American musicians in this category, the subcategories that already exist tend to 'get lost'.
 * I believe that the new subcategories would be of interest to users.
 * This will parallel the subcategorization for Category:American musicians.
 * The African American musicians category is currently not always being consistently used; some African American musicians are not listed here, but listed under genre, or instrument by nationality, only.

I intend to begin work on this gradually. If concerns are raised and there seems to be a consensus not to subcategorize in this way, I will be glad to help put things back the way they were before.

Respectfully, LiniShu 03:40, 30 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I'd rather see ethnicity and instrument kept separate. -- Jmabel | Talk 18:54, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

As of 31 December 2005, after reading the discussion on Wikipedia talk:Categorization/Gender, race and sexuality, (of which I was not aware, prior to making the entry above), I do not think it would be beneficial to create additional subcategories by ethnicity at this time. Note: Also, as of 01 January 2006, the discussion referred to has been deemed closed and has been summarized on Categorization/Gender, race and sexuality. I do have some other questions/suggestions about recategorization that might be done; will write more later; just took a few moments this afternoon to write a brief note. Thanks, LiniShu 21:28, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Subcategorization Proposal (2)
There are over a thousand entries in this category, so perhaps it's time to think about splitting it into smaller subcats. Perhaps instead of an all-inclusive "musicians" category, we could split it based on music style, e.g., African American rap musicians, African American blues musicians, African American jazz musicians, and so forth? Obviously, some artists would fall into more than one subcat, but that should not be a problem. — Loadmaster 16:24, 30 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, yes, the Categorization/Gender, race and sexuality article provides good reasons not to subcategorize. So at this point I'm neutral on the issue (see the discussion above for similar thoughts). But this is a large category nonetheless. — Loadmaster 16:38, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Kenny Burrell
[someone should correct this article which currently reads that Kenny is and isn't African American.] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1012:B054:28FF:3599:4639:3A4:9224 (talk) 01:59, 5 November 2016 (UTC)

Just pointing out, Kenny Burrell is not African American. He is Caucasian. There was probably some confusion due to the fact that he does studies and lectures of African American influence in music and US history and has an archive named after him in an African American studies library. Also, the picture used in the article is of poor quality.--NeverOff (talk) 19:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC) EDIT: THIS IS INCORRECT

Kenny Burrell is absolutely African American (both parents were A.A.), from Detroit. The poster above has been terribly misinformed. African American people exist in a full spectrum of colors. He is one of the most respected jazz musicians in the world. He has dedicated his life to music and the continuation and preservation of this American treasure we call Jazz. MBM2009 (talk) 06:38, 30 June 2009 (UTC)


 * facts 172.88.235.179 (talk) 06:37, 11 October 2022 (UTC)