I was driving a borrowed car on a long trip by myself today, so I ended up listening to somebody else's radio station presets. I heard a show on Stanford university student radio where they played music by black women artists through the decades starting with the 1930s. It was, no kidding, the single best playlist I've ever heard on the radio.
I found the playlist online, so if you wanna expand your knowledge of classic tunes this is a great list to start with:
http://zookeeper.stanford.edu/index.php?action=viewDate&seq=selList&playlist=38467&session=