People, Locations, Episodes

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, this group was sent out by Booker T. Washington for several years to “promote the interest of Tuskegee Institutes” by acquainting benevolent audiences to the school and his philosophy. The original quartet consisted of students Hiram H. Thweatt, John F. McLeMore, […]

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 in 1901. Her […]

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.

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

*The birth of Mary Loraine Europe 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. […]

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.

Henry Lee Grant, Music Educator born

*Henry Lee Grant was born on this date in 1886.  He was a Black music educator and administrator. He was born in Washington, DC. He studied music with his father, Henry F. Grant, who was head of the music department in segregated schools. Grant taught music briefly at Livingstone College in Salisbury, NC, before returning to Washington, […]

Kid Ory, Trombonist born

On this date Kid Ory was born in 1886. He was an African American trombonist and composer.

Luckey Roberts, Pianist born

On this date Luckey Roberts was born in 1887. He was an African American composer and pianist.

Born Charles Luckyeth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and after working in vaudeville as a child, Roberts moved to New York where he established a minor reputation as a composer and a major one as a performer of “Rags” and later “Stride” piano. In the years between World War One and World War Two, Roberts’ composing talents were recognized more and several of his musical shows were produced.

Nadia Boulanger, Music Teacher born

*Nadia Boulanger was born on September 16, 1887. She was a white French music teacher, conductor, and composer. From a musical family, from the age of seven, Juliette Nadia Boulanger studied in preparation for her Conservatoire entrance exams, sitting in on their classes and having private lessons with its teachers. She achieved early honors as […]

Lovie Austin, Musician, and Bandleader born

*The birth of Lovie Austin was in 1887 is marked on this date. She was an African American piano player and band leader.

From Chattanooga, TN, after studying music in college, she toured on the vaudeville circuit, settling in Chicago in 1923. From 1924-1926, she recorded repeatedly with her Blues Serenaders, a group that at various times had Kid Ory and Johnny Dodds playing. Austin (as house pianist for Paramount) also backed many blues singers (including Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter). But after 1926, her recording activity largely came to a halt.