Ella Jenkins is one of the most influential musicians you’ve never heard of; her songs are classics in the world of children’s music. In a career spanning more than 60 years, she recorded 40 albums, won a lifetime-achievement Grammy, and became the bestselling individual artist in the history of Smithsonian Folkways Records, the independent label that played a significant role in the 1960s folk revival movement and introduced listeners to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. During her remarkable career, Jenkins joined forces with 20th-century luminaries such as Odetta, Big Bill Broonzy, Armando Peraza, Bayard Rustin, and Fred Rogers. Despite her wide-reaching influence on children’s music, Jenkins’ sonic civil rights activism isn’t widely known today.

Based on dozens of interviews and access to Jenkins’ personal archives, Gayle F. Wald’s This Is Rhythm shares how Jenkins, a “rhythm specialist" with no formal musical training, became the most prolific and significant American children’s musician of the 20th century. 

Wald is professor of American studies at George Washington University. She is the author of three previous books, including Shout, Sister, Shout! the acclaimed biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and It’s Been Beautiful, a study of the groundbreaking Black Power TV program “Soul!” She will be in conversation with Emmy-winning journalist Michel Martin, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

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