Was It Weird For The Jim Crow U.S. To Send African American Musicians Out Into The Cold War World As 'Jazz Ambassadors'?

Yeah, it was. But that came about thanks to House Rep Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was married to jazz pianist Hazel Scott. "As the State Department is sending some American cultural exports like the Boston Symphony, or acapella singers, or folk dancers around the world, he says, hold on, why don't we send jazz musicians? There, an art form that's native to the United States, that no one else can compete with."

Article source here:Arts Journal