About the origins of Rag, or any other invention of humans.  Some
people treat 'form' -- as Scott Joplin, for example, deployed it in his
compositions -- as a museum artifact, dug up like a funky clay bowl
someone ate mush from, just before the volcano blew.

In order to describe history, and chronologically contain a dynasty,
define an age, precipitate the evidence that makes for an era,
demarcations in time are made.  Time -- the process is stopped.

For Ragsters, Joplin is indisputably the origin, but he is because of
[the result of?] market forces of his time, and his talent for writing
music, as much or more so than his undisputed genius.

To certain players, [such as] Jelly Roll Morton or Pinetop Smith, it
seemed to have been very important to claim credit for 'inventing' an
entire genre: 'jazz', 'boogie woogie'.  They didn't, but may have been
(among) the first to record a song of a genre, and that may suffice for
history to support their claims.

Most of us on this thread have had the opportunity to witness the rise
of a new music form, which we can probably ascribe as having a similar
evolution as Rag, Jazz, et al.  But there are more participants and
bigger and better media to spread the form.  It's Rock Music.  The
birth of Back Beat.

Someone named it; someone claimed credit for inventing it; mass media
disseminated it; and hundreds of 'stars' populated the genre.  Merely
look back and observe the history of Rock, and you will see the history
of Jazz, Ragtime, Boogie.  Mostly black music in the hands of mostly
white media ...

Who invented Rock?  Bill Haley?  Little Richard?  Elvis?  Jimi Hendrix?
The Beatles?  There is no need to do archeological excavation.  We can
see it right now.

And history repeats itself, or, people act true to form.  As was
for Ragtime, there were people who wanted to suppress Rock music.
They were the same yelping dog mob who burn books, and who now want to
shut down or seriously censor the Internet.  In the fifties, they
unabashedly decried that they wanted to stamp out the harmful 'negro'
influences -- read: encouragement to have sex -- heard in Rock n' Roll,
before it 'hurts our youth'.

I have read that the syncopation in Ragtime -- so quaint, and dainty
to me now -- roused similar ire in that era's fearful.  It's all there
for us to see.  History happens, now.

Johnny Lite