The latest episode of PBS's "History Detectives" (Season 6, Episode 11) had investigations with concerning Slave Songs of the United States (William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, Lucy McKim Garrison), singer Josh White, and the folklore of the origins of hip hop. It was a pretty fun collection of stories.

There are full transcripts of each episode, and some video and other stuff.

I noticed a link to another episode where they looked for the history of an old (slave?) banjo: here.

I find this show kind of fun, though I don't watch it regularly.

~ Becky in Tucson