People, Locations, Episodes

Robert N. Dett, Classical Composer born

On this date in 1882, Robert Dett was born. He was an African American composer, poet and pianist.

Eubie Blake, Ragtime, and Show-Tune Pianist born

*On this date Eubie Blake was born in 1883. He was an African American pianist and composer of ragtime music and show tunes.

Ford Dabney, Ragtime Pianist and Composer born.

*Ford Dabney was born on March 15, 1883. He was a Black ragtime pianist, composer, songwriter, and band director. Ford Thompson Dabney was from Washington, D.C., and was the son of John Wendell Dabney. He attended the business education division of M Street High School and Dunbar High School) grades nine through eleven. Dabney then […]

Hazel Harrison, Pianist and Educator born

Hazel Harrison was an African American pianist and teacher and was born on this date in 1883.

Mamie Smith, Singer born

Mamie Smith, an African American singer, was born on this date in 1883 in Cincinnati, OH.

Mamie Gardener began her career in show business as a dancer with the Four Dancing Mitchells. By 1910, Smith was touring the Midwest and East Coast with the Smart Set Company, a Black minstrel troupe. She married singer William “Smitty” Smith in 1912. The couple moved to New York where she began working as a cabaret dancer, pianist, and singer. Her first major break came in 1918, when she appeared in Perry Bradford’s musical “Made in Harlem.”

Dvorak’s Performance of ‘From The New World’ Debuts

*On this date in 1893, the renowned white-Czech composer Antonín Dvořák debuted the performance of his most famous symphony, This classic recognized the significance of American Negro spirituals and their contributions to the culture of the United States. Dvořák came to America at the invitation of music patron and entrepreneur Jeanette Meyers Thurber in 1892. […]

The Tuskegee Choir is Formed

*On this date in 1884, we celebrate the Tuskegee Choir. Beginning as a quartet, Booker T. Washington sent this group out for several years to “promote the interest of Tuskegee Institute” by acquainting benevolent audiences with the school and his philosophy. The original quartet consisted of students Hiram H. Thweatt, John F. McLeMore, Warren Logan, […]

Sara Martin, Blues Singer born

*Sara Martin was born on this date in 1884. She was a Black blues singer.   She was born Sara Dunn in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the daughter of William T. Dunn and Mary Katherine “Katie’ Pope and was singing on the Black vaudeville circuit by 1915. She was married three times, the first marriage to Christopher Wooden when she was 16. Christopher Wooden died […]

Leadbelly, Blues Singer, and Songwriter born

*On this date we mark the birth of LeadBelly in 1885. He was an African American folk-blues singer, songwriter.

Musical from childhood, Huddie William Ledbetter was in Mooringsport, Louisiana, played accordion, 6- and 12-string guitar, bass, and harmonica. He led a wandering life, learning songs by taking in oral tradition. For a time he worked as an itinerant musician with Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1918 he was imprisoned for murder; after serving six years, he was pardoned by the governor of Texas, who had visited the prison and heard him sing.

James Scott, Ragtime Composer born.

*James Scott was born on this date in 1885. He was a Black ragtime composer and pianist. James Sylvester Scott was born in Neosho, Missouri, to James Scott Sr. and Molly Thomas Scott, both former slaves. Scott was a cousin of blues singer Ada Brown. In 1901, his family moved to Carthage, Missouri, where he […]

King Oliver, Pioneer of Jazz born

King Oliver, an African American musician, was born on this date in 1885 in Donaldsyille, LA.

Nora Douglas Holt, Musician, and Composer born

*The birth of Nora Douglas Holt in 1885 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American singer, composer and music critic.

Mary Loraine Europe, Pianist, and Teacher born

*Mary Loraine Europe’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1885. She was a Black pianist, organist, and music educator.  Born in Mobile, Alabama, Mary Loraine Europe was a daughter of Henry J. Europe and Loraine (Saxon) Europe. Her father was a native of Alabama and a devoted Baptist Church of Mobile member. Her mother […]

Ma Rainey, Blues Singer born

*On this date in 1886, Blues Entertainer Ma Rainey was born. “Mother of the Blues”, she was the first great Black professional blues vocalist.

Gertrude Malissa Nix Rainey Pridgitt was from Columbus, Ga. From 1904, she toured southern American tent shows, levee camps, and cabarets in a song-and-dance team with her husband, William (“Pa”) Rainey, a minstrel comic. She performed in the theatrical circuits of the South and Midwest through the 1920s, leading her own troupes, including at times, Bessie Smith and Thomas A. (“Georgia Tom”) Dorsey.

Shelton Brooks, Lyricist born

Shelton Brooks, a popular African American music composer, was born on this date in 1886,in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada.

At about the age of 15, in 1901, he and his family moved to Detroit. Brooks sang, played piano, and performed in vaudeville and in musical comedies. He had a songwriting career and a radio show on the CBS network in the 1930s.