Cultural Wearables: Preserving Black Music and Jazz History

Black music is living history—and preserving that history is central to the mission of Ethnicitees, LLC.

Founded by artist Sean Ramon Montague in 1990, Ethnicitees pioneered “Cultural Wearables”: educational, biographical, artist-made apparel celebrating the people whose creativity transformed American and global culture.

Each design begins with historical research and an original hand-rendered illustration, meticulously hand-carved into a relief printing block. A thoughtful splash of modern technology then helps translate the completed relief print for screen-print production—uniting two ancient printmaking traditions.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• Eubie Blake carried Baltimore’s ragtime brilliance to Broadway, helping open doors for Black composers and theatrical artists.

• Chick Webb’s explosive drumming and leadership at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom helped shape swing—and his orchestra helped launch Ella Fitzgerald’s career.

• Ella Fitzgerald transformed the human voice into a jazz instrument through phrasing, improvisation and scat singing, earning worldwide recognition as the “First Lady of Song.”

• Billie Holiday, raised in Baltimore, made emotional truth inseparable from jazz. Her phrasing—and songs such as “Strange Fruit”—showed how music can preserve memory and confront injustice.

• Nina Simone united classical training, jazz, blues, folk and protest music, making Black dignity, freedom and political urgency impossible to ignore.

Preserving Black jazz culture means honoring more than famous recordings. It means remembering the musicians, communities, venues, innovations and struggles that created the music. These Cultural Wearables turn that history into a visible, wearable invitation to listen, learn and remember.

Ethnicitees does not chase fashion trends. We create Cultural Wearables that preserve Black lives, Black artistry and Black legacy for past, present and future generations.

BLACK HISTORY • ARTIST MADE • WEARABLE CULTURE