The Blues Harp

When thinking of the blues, it's the soulful wail of the blues harp that is enjoyable for me. It is versatile in it's flavoring of a song from it's long sorrowful notes to the playful mimicking of a train.
So where did this instrument first pop up? Around 5000 years ago, a young Chinese Empress, Nyu-Kwa, invented a gourd and reed instrument she called the Sheng.
Eventually the design was tweaked and redesigned until 1830 when a young Bohemian by the name of Richter created the 10-hole, diatonic harmonica we know today. However, it would be another 80 years before the blues genre would take form.
The blues began and was raised in Mississippi Delta in a time when African-Americans was often forcibly conscripted to clear land and work on the levee. Their pain was communicated through the autobiographical nature of the blues music.
It's impossible to specify when exactly blues was combined with the blues harp. One theory is that it was Jaybird Coleman who was managed by the Ku Klux Klan. More likely it was a gradual transition.
The first African-American blues harp player to record, however, was Pete Hampton in 1903 who was featured on "Mouth Organ Coon." In one part he plays the harp with his nose while simultaneously whistling.
In the 1930's and 1940's African Americans eventually began migrating north to find more tolerant work conditions. The blues music followed and began flourishing in some of America's biggest cities.
This saw the emergence of blues harp players such as Sonny Terry.
The 50's saw Delta-bred Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo and others scoring national hits while over in Memphis B.B. King was pioneering a style of guitar which melted jazz with blues tonality.
Jimmy Reed had success with his singles in the young white market, a previously untouched audience, with thirteen of his songs making it into the Hot Hundred.
Today, people like Annie Raines and Rod Piazza are bringing in modern audiences with their professional technicality.