Why are there so few black people in classical music?

[Aristus]

17. I knew that at around age six, the first time I listened to the soundtrack to the film "The Sting".

It's a shame that he is still considered a ragtime composer. The term 'rag' refers to pieces that have a loose, improvisational feel to them, and were just meant as good-time honky-tonk music.

After "The Sting" re-introduced Joplin to the musical consciousness, music professors and critics started re-examining his pieces, and realized that, far from being a glorified saloon pianist, he was an absolutely brilliant composer, in the literal sense that his works are compositions, carefully thought out and arranged. Some of his works have a beauty and solemnity that Beethoven might have admired.

And sometime in the 1990's, Joplin was re-categorized as a classical composer.

I would recommend getting a good recording of his most popular and well-known pieces. They're astonishing.