*John A. Lomax Jr. was born on this date in 1907. He was a white-American folklorist, performer, and land developer. John A. Lomax Jr. was born in Austin, Texas, United States. He was the son of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman Brown and the brother of Shirley Lomax, Alan Lomax, and Bess Lomax. He […]
learn more*Mance Lipscomb was born on this date in 1895. He was a Black blues singer, guitarist, and songster. Beau De Glen “Mance” Lipscomb was from near Navasota, Texas. His father was a slave in Alabama; his mother was half African and Native American. As a youth, Lipscomb took the name Mance (short for emancipation) from […]
learn more*Ragtime music is celebrated on this date in 1895. Ragtime is a musical style that peaked from the 1890s to the 1910s. Its cardinal feature is its syncopated or “ragged” rhythm. Ragtime music originated within African communities in the United States in the late 19th century and became a distinctly American form of popular music. […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*Ada Brown was born on this date in 1890. She was an American blues and jazz singer and actress. Ada Scott Brown was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. She was born into a musically inclined family and grew up singing in church as a child. In 1910, she successfully launched her career at […]
learn more*Lottie Gee was born on this date in 1886. She was a Black dancer and singer who performed in shows and musicals during the Harlem Renaissance. Charlotte O. ‘Lottie’ Gee was born in Millboro, Virginia. Initially a dancer in Aida Overton Walker’s shows, she appeared in The Red Moon in 1904 and later toured the […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*On December 26, 1929, the opening of Wonder Gardens is celebrated. Also known as Wonder Bar, it was a jazz and R&B nightclub at 1601 Arctic Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Originally called Wonder Bar, the jazz nightspot opened around 1929 at 1601 Arctic Avenue, on the northwest corner of Kentucky Avenue and Arctic […]
learn more*Club Harlem was a nightclub that opened on this date in 1935, at 32 North Kentucky Avenue in the Northside neighborhood of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Leroy “Pop” Williams founded it, and it became the city’s premier club for Black jazz performers. Like its Harlem counterpart, the Cotton Club, many of Club Harlem’s guests were […]
learn more*On December 20, 1934, we celebrate Grace’s Little Belmont. This was a jazz music bar and lounge in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Located at 37 North Kentucky Avenue, it was one of the four popular Black nightclubs between the mid-1930s and mid-1970s. The Little Belmont was located across the street from Club Harlem, where it […]
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