Backlash Blues is an immersive, research-driven digital experience exploring the remarkable creative relationship between Nina Simone and Langston Hughes. Visitors can trace how Hughes shaped four of Simone's most pivotal recordings from 1964 to 1967, follow the evolution of "Backlash Blues" from drafted poem to recorded classic, and discover their first encounter in Asheville, NC in 1949 when a teenage Eunice Waymon met Hughes during Negro History Week.

The site brings this history to life through rare audio recordings, original documents including Hughes's handwritten drafts, performance variations, archival photographs, and biographical timelines. Whether you're diving into the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, Hughes's overlooked anti-Vietnam War statement embedded in "Backlash Blues," or Nina Simone's 1967 Newport tribute to Hughes after his death, Backlash Blues offers a deeply documented portrait of two iconic American artists and the civil rights era that shaped their work.

Watch Nina Simone perform Backlash Blues and then explore the interactive experience...