People, Locations, Episodes

Claudio Brindis de Salas, Musician born

*Claudio Brindis de Salas was born on this date in 1852.  He was an Afro Cuban violinist and double bass player.  Born in Havana, his father was the violinist and bandleader Claudio Brindis de Salas. Young de Salas studied under his father, and maestros José Redondo and the Belgian José Van der Gutch (who lived […]

Maggie Porter, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Maggie Porter is celebrated on this date in 1853. She was a first-generation freed slave, teacher, and choral singer.   Maggie Porter was one of three daughters born in Lebanon, Tennessee, to a slave family belonging to Henry Frazier. At the start of the American Civil War, Frazier moved to Nashville, taking Maggie’s family […]

James Bland, Composer born

This date marks the birth of James A. Bland in 1854. He was a Black entertainer and composer, born in Flushing, New York.

Bland was one of the best-known black composers for the theatrical entertainment called the minstrel show. He was educated in Washington, D.C., where he graduated from Howard University in 1873. He went on to become a performer in minstrel shows, achieving his greatest success in Britain between 1882 and 1901.

Thomas Rutling, Choral Singer born

*Thomas Rutling was born on this date in 1854. He was a Black slave, butler, voice teacher, and choral singer. From Tennessee, Thomas Rutling was born into slavery. His father was sold by slavers or had run away before his birth. Rutling was the youngest of nine children. His mother was sold when he was […]

Josephine Leavell, Music Teacher and Organist born

*Josephine Leavell was born on this date in 1855. She was an African American pianist, organist and music teacher.

Mary Eliza Walker Crump, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Mary Eliza Walker Crump is celebrated on this date in 1857. She was a Black contralto singer and Choir manager. Mary Eliza Walker was born in slavery near Nashville, Tennessee. “My mother belonged to Wesley Greenfield and my father to John W. Walker of Nashville,” she wrote in an 1873 publication. Her […]

Minnie Tate, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Minnie Tate is celebrated on this date in 1857. She was a choral singer and was the youngest original member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Minnie Tate was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the daughter of Andrew L. Tate and Adelle A. Livingston Tate. Her grandmother, Dicey Tanner, and mother, Adelle, were freed from […]

Lucien Lambert Jr., Pianist and Composer, born

*Lucien Lambert, Jr. was born on this date in 1858. He was a Black pianist and composer of American Creole descent. Lucien-Leon Lambert was the son of New Orleans composer Charles Lucien Lambert, who married a French woman and emigrated from the U.S. in 1854. Lambert, Jr. studied music with his father, Theodore Dubois, and Jules Massenet. After […]

Gabino Ezeiza, Payada Musician born

*Gabino Ezeiza was born on this date in 1858. He was an Afro Argentinean musician. Gabino Ezeiza was one of the greatest performers in the art of the payada. He became renowned, both in his native land and in Uruguay, after a memorable encounter with Oriental payador Juan de Nava, who carried a certain halo of invincibility […]

Mamie Hilyer, Classical Music Advocate born

*Mamie Hilyer was born on this date in 1863.  She was a Black pianist and promoter of classical music.   Mamie Elizabeth Nichols was born in the District of Columbia.  An accomplished pianist, she was an ‘active member of the city’s Black upper class. Hilyer became a devoted champion of ‘good music’ and its cultivation […]

‘Blind Boone’, Musical Prodigy born

John William “Blind” Boone was born on this date in 1864. He was an African American musician.

Ernest Hogan, Stage Performer born

*The birth of Ernest Hogan c1865 is celebrated on this date.  He was a Black dancer, musician, comedian, actor, and producer.    He was born Ernest Reuben Crowders in the Shake Rag District of Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Little is known about his childhood, but as a teenager, he traveled with a minstrel troupe called the Georgia Graduate, where […]

Amanda Aldridge, Opera Singer and Opera Teacher born

*Amanda Aldridge was born on this date in 1866. She was a Black British opera singer, teacher, and composer. Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge was born in Upper Norwood, London, the third child of Black actor Ira Frederick Aldridge and his second wife, Amanda Brandt, who was Swedish. She had two sisters, Rachael and Luranah, and […]

Harry Burleigh, Gospel Performer born

*Harry T. Burleigh was born on this date in 1866. He was an African American gospel singer and composer.

From Erie Pennsylvania, he was the grandson of slaves. It was his grandfather that passed on to him the tradition of plantation songs. Burleigh had little formal music training in his youth, but was accepted into the National Conservatory of Music at the age of 26. There he took voice and lessons in composition with Antonin Dvorek.

Emma Hackley, Music Educator born

On this date in 1867, Emma Azalia Smith Hackley was born. She was an African American classical singer, social worker, writer, philanthropist, and activist who championed the use of the Black spiritual among her own people as a tool for social change.

Emma Smith was born in Murfreesboro, TN, the daughter of Henry and Corilla Smith, a blacksmith and a schoolteacher. Corilla Smith had established a school to teach freed black people and their children, but white hostility drove the family out and they moved to Detroit.