Black folk musicians gathered Sept. 12 for “Kinfolk Courtyard: A Celebration of Black Folk,” but what took place on stage was far more than a celebratory night of music. So much of the distortion of the Black folk tradition was via blackface minstrel shows that were most popular in the urban North. “There was some erasure that happened with Black folks in folk music,” Notez said. “So, we are thinking about, like, what is the community that happens within Black folk arts as a whole? Just like for Notez and Givertz, there’s a foundational understanding for Blount to reconcile with as Black folk music is rediscovered and redefined.