People, Locations, Episodes

Baby Dodds, Jazz Percussionists born

On this date we mark the birth of Warren “Baby” Dodds, born in 1898. He was an African American musician, a leading early jazz percussionist, and one of the first major jazz drummers to be recorded.

Leonard Harper, Stage Producer born

*Leonard Harper was born on this date in 1899; he was a Black producer, stager, and choreographer in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance.   He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, to William Harper, a performer, and his wife. Harper started dancing as a child to attract a crowd on a medicine show wagon, traveling throughout the South. In 1915, […]

Duke Ellington, Jazz Legend born

*On this date in 1899, Duke Ellington was born. He was an African American jazz composer, band leader, and pianist.

Born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington, D.C., into a middle-class family, he acquired the nickname Duke as a child for his manners, clothing, and personality. He began playing for friends and at parties and soon formed a small dance band named The Duke’s Serenaders. In 1923 Ellington moved to New York City, 4 years later Ellington began performing at The Cotton Club, the most prominent nightclub in the Harlem area of New York City at the time.

Thomas Dorsey, Gospel Composer born

*Thomas Dorsey was born on this date in 1899. He was an African American pianist, arranger and composer, known as the “Father of Gospel Music.”

Roy Butler, Jazz Saxophonist born

Roy Butler, an African American jazz musician, was born on this date in 1899.

He was born in Richmond, IN, the son of George Butler and Amanda Wylie. Roy Grant Butler learned how to play the tenor saxophone and began playing music in carnivals, minstrel shows, and small bands during his early years in Columbus, Ohio. He joined Sammy Stewart’s Orchestra and went to Chicago in 1922, playing local clubs. It was with this band that he made his first recordings and began clarinet and oboe lessons. Among his influences were Barney Bigard and Fletcher Henderson.

William Dawson, Composer, and Vocalist born

William Levi Dawson was born on this date in 1899, in Anniston, AL. He was an African American vocalist, composer. At the age of 13, he ran away from home and entered Tuskegee Institute. Supporting himself by manual labor, he completed his education there in 1921.

Deford Bailey, ‘Grand Ole Opry’ Musician born

Deford Bailey was born on this date in 1899. He was an African American Country and Blues musician.

He was born in Bellwood, TN., and overcame polio early in his life. His back was deformed and he never grew taller than four feet, ten inches. His mother died when he was a baby, and his father’s sister and her husband raised him. Stricken with infantile paralysis at the age of three, the bedridden child was given a harmonica as a means of amusement. Bailey’s skill with the harmonica and his musical talent gained him a reputation in the field of country music.

Mabel Mercer, Cabaret Singer born

*Mabel Mercer was born on this date in 1900. She was an African American cabaret singer.

The Negro National Anthem Debuts

*On this date in 1900 “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as the Negro National Anthem and the Negro National Hymn was sung publicly for the first time.

Written by James Weldon Johnson with music by J. Rosamond Johnson, the occasion was a celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln at the Colored High School in Jacksonville, Fla. In 1926, Johnson acknowledged that the song was not written as an expression of African American solidarity.

He said “the song not only epitomizes the history of the race, and its present condition, but voices their hope for the future.”

The Rosebud Bar, (Ragtime Venue) Opens

The Rosebud Bar’s opening in St. Louis, MO, in 1900 is celebrated on this date. It was one of the original venues for Ragtime music.

George Lewis, Musician born

*George Lewis was born on this date in 1900. He was a Black jazz clarinetist. He was born Joseph Louis Francois Zenon in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Through his mother, Alice Zeno, his maternal great-great-grandmother was a Senegalese slave brought to Louisiana around 1803. Zeno’s family retained some knowledge of the Senegalese language and […]

Kokomo Arnold, Georgia Bluesman born

*Kokomo Arnold was born on this date in 1901. He was an African American blues musician.

John Wesley Work III, Composer born

On this date in 1901 John Wesley Work III was born. He was an African American composer, historian, and educator.

Jester Hairston, Actor born

Jester Hairston was born on this date in 1901. He was an African American choral composer and actor.

The grandson of slaves from the Hairston plantation at Belew’s Creek, North Carolina, Jester Hairston often had to suffer the indignities of Hollywood racism. A cum laude graduate from Tufts Universit with a major in music, he also studied music at the famed Julliard School. He spent 13 years as assistant conductor of the Hall Johnson Negro Choir, where he often arranged and conducted choirs for Broadway.

Louis Armstrong, Musician, and Composer born

*This date marks the birth of Louis Armstrong. He was an African American jazz, cornet, and trumpet player, singer, band leader, and entertainer.