In the mid-1800's the most famous name in harmonicas, Matthias Hohner, took the basic design and introduced the instrument to America. His business skill, and a hard working immigrant sales force, spread the harp around the country. Just like todays marketing of musical instruments with celebrity endorsements, Hohner used John Phillip Sousa to promote his product. The fact that most people could afford a harmonica was the biggest reason for it's success.
A harmonica is a simple instrument. Air is blown through a channel and over a reed that vibrates to produce the tone. Line up several channels and reeds and you have a basic harmonica. This only works when air is blown in past the reed, there is no sound when air is sucked back through. An identical set of reeds, only in reverse so that a tone is produced when air is sucked in though the reed, is added to make a modern harmonica.
The way harmonicas are configured and tuned vary. The chromatic harp contains the standard notes in half-step intervals, in other words, all the notes you see on a piano. The common harmonica only contains the notes in diatonic scale in the key specified on the cover plate. So if you have a harp with a C on the cover plate, when you blow it, you will play a C chord. The reverse reeds will sound when you suck and will play a G chord. The combination of blowing and sucking is how the instrument is mastered.
By now you're blowing and sucking on your harmonica saying "that doesn't sound like the Blues". When you blow on the downbeat and suck on the upbeat you are playing in a major scale. The secret to Blues harmonica is to suck on the downbeat and blow on the upbeat creating a minor or Blues scale. There now, play the Blues!
One of the most appealing sounds a harmonica can make is a bent note. Blues music is based on a minor scale with bent notes or "blue notes" that bridge between notes. To bend a note you have to contort your mouth and tongue to change the pitch. These are the moaning and wailing sounds that are typical of the pain in Blues music.
With the combination of price, portability, and expression, the harmonica was born to play the Blues. Many artists such as Little Walter, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, and Rod Piazza became masters and stars with the harp. They have also been a curse to every Blues band on the planet when less-than-accomplished harmonica players attempt to sit in on a tune. Played well, a harmonica can make you cry or make you dance.
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