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Category: African American History

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The Curious Case of Henry Creamer, or A Mammy, a Mule, and a Moon

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from Ben West, writer, director, producer, performer, and musical theatre historian. He is currently a curator for the forthcoming Museum of Broadway in Times Square, New York City. He is also currently writing and developing several stage projects including The Show Time! Trilogy, three new documentary musicals about the evolution …

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Rosa Parks: In Music

Posted by: Cait Miller

Today marks the opening of a new exhibition at the Library of Congress dedicated to civil rights activist Rosa Parks. “Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words” draws from material in the Library’s Rosa Parks Collection to tell the life story of this remarkable woman, including her early life and activism, the Montgomery bus boycott, the …

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Art Kane Harlem 1958 Upcoming Panel Event

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

One of the most iconic photographs in jazz was shot on August 4, 1958 outside a brownstone at 17 East 126th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenue in Harlem. The photo was shot by Art Kane and appeared in Esquire Magazine in January of 1959. Somehow Kane managed to gather 57 important jazz musicians to …

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Allen Toussaint’s Treasures Found in L.A. Swapmeet

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

In 2007, the Library presented back-to-back concerts with two quintessential New Orleans pianists Henry Butler and Allen Toussaint. Mr. Toussaint was in the news recently because his legacy studio recordings, long thought lost in the flood from Hurricane Katrina, turned up at a swap meet in Torrance, California. Toussaint wrote, arranged and produced many hits …

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Thinking About Eric Dolphy On His Birthday

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

He was only 36 when he died in Berlin in 1964, but the gifted, avant-garde innovator Eric Dolphy (June 20, 1928-June 29, 1964) helped change the landscape for jazz improvisers through his collaborations with John Coltrane, Gunther Schuller, Charles Mingus and his own projects. He was a multi-instrumentalist who found his distinctive voice on alto …