Good point, Art about not looking back.

But...one of the most popular symbols that African Americans use to represent pride in African culture is Sankofa, a symbol that represents the importance of learning from the past. The proverb for Sankofa is that "It's never too late to go back and claim it" {which is interpreted as having pride in and going back and reclaiming African heritage}.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but even if Blues had been considered part of the "folk genre", when Blues became separated from its dance performances {and I think for other reasons having to do with African American preferences for new styles in music, dance, languaging, fashion etc and {generally speaking] what appears to me to be our disregard for and disrespect of what is considered "old"} I think that most African Americans still would have turned their backs on Blues music.