Meanwhile, the Delta Blues moved along with the northern migration of African-Americans. Chicago Blues, featuring the electric guitar, came to the forefront. The electric guitar forever changed the Blues and later become Rock's instrument of choice. Delta Blues was acoustic. This was a necessity since very few African Americans had access to electricity. However, in the big cities you could now plug a guitar into an amp. Willie Dixon, Lightning Hopkins and Howlin' Wolf led the way. Wolf's great "Smokestack Lightening" was one of many Blues songs that were covered in the '60s by U.S. & British Rock groups.

In the early 1950's Southern African Americans and whites went their own separate ways. Jim Crow laws kept everything supposedly separate but equal. The cruel reality was it was separate but very unequal. No service at lunch counters, barred from public facilities and made to ride at the back of the bus were some of the more obvious indignities. In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "Brown Vs the Board of Education" declared "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. Not that things changed all that much following the ruling. Governors stood on school doorsteps blocking African Americans from entering. The National Guard was called out. Sit-ins, violence. Protests, violence. The federal government, the Eisenhower administration, tried to keep a lid on things.

Along with everything else in the South even the airwaves were segregated. Records made by non-whites were referred to as "race" records. In the film "Rebel Without A Cause" there is a scene where James Dean's character is hanging around with his friends. He turns on the car radio and tunes to an R&B station. No matter how hard the power structure tried, people, especially young people, were going to gravitate toward the best, most exciting music.

Why is the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland? Turns out a Cleveland radio disc jockey named Alan Freed began holding dances that featured a new type of music - music not bound by race. He, and others, started using the term Rock 'n' Roll (a Blues' sexual slang) to identify a music that blended elements of Country and Blues to create a beat driven sound.

Also, prior to World War II, unless you were rich, a child's schooling ended in the teen years where, depending on where you lived, you either quit school to work on the farm or take a factory job to help support the family. But the family values of the post-war era changed that. Dad worked and financially supported the family. Mom raised the kids. They moved out of the crowded, multi-racial city to the suburbs. And in the whole process a new creature was created. The white middle class teenager. Their prime responsibility was to go to school - high school then college. They were expected to hold part-time jobs and help with household chores but they no longer had to contribute to the family coffers. The combination of disposable income and youthful exuberance was bound to stir things up. Soon the teen market developed and movies were the first to market directly to this audience with "Rebel Without A Cause," "The Wild Ones" and "Blackboard Jungle." The latter film is particularly significant since it featured the first breakthrough Rock 'n' Roll song - Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around The Clock."