Amiri Baraka's "Blues People", a precursor to the fields of cultural studies and critical race theory, was the first comprehensive study to be written by an African American. William J. Harris, Robert O’Meally, John Szwed discussed the musical, sociological, aesthetic and theoretical implications of this sociocultural history of African American music and its unique place in American music history and culture. The talk marked the 50th anniversary of Amiri Baraka’s classic, which was published in New York City On September 25, 1963 with a first impression of 5000 copies and never went out of print.