Baker, Josephine (03 June 1906–12 April 1975), dancer, singer, and civil rights activist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Eddie Carson, a musician, and Carrie Macdonald. Her parents parted when Josephine was still an infant, and her mother married Arthur Martin, which has led to some confusion about her maiden name. Very little is known about her childhood, except that she was a witness to the East St. Louis riot in 1917. This event was often a feature of her talks in the 1950s and 1960s about racism and the fight for equality, which fostered the oft-repeated assertion that the family was resident in East St. Louis. Before the age of eighteen Josephine had been married twice, first to Willie Wells and then to William Baker, to whom she was married in Camden, New Jersey, in September 1921....
Article
Baker, Josephine (1906-1975), dancer, singer, and civil rights activist
Patrick O’Connor
Image
Baker, Josephine (1906-1975)
Maker: Carl Van Vechten
In
Article
Day, Doris (3 Apr. 1922–13 May 2019), singer, actress, and animal rights activist
Bruce J. Evensen
Day, Doris (3 Apr. 1922–13 May 2019), singer, actress, and animal rights activist was born Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff to Alma Sophia (Welz) von Kappelhoff, a stage mother, and Joseph von Kappelhoff, a music teacher and remote father, in Cincinnati.
In 1935...
Article
Denver, John (1943-1997), singer, songwriter, and environmental activist
Stacey Hamilton
Denver, John (31 December 1943–12 October 1997), singer, songwriter, and environmental activist, was born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., in Roswell, New Mexico, the son of Henry John “Dutch” Deutschendorf, an air force pilot, and Erma Swope Deutschendorf. Dutch Deutschendorf's military career forced the family to move often, and John grew up a shy, self-conscious loner with few friends. He began taking guitar lessons when he was eleven, and in high school he used his natural talent for playing and singing to gain popularity. From 1961 to 1964 he studied architecture at Texas Tech University, but he quit school in his junior year and moved to Los Angeles, where he hoped to devote himself full time to a music career. Taking the name “John Denver,” he began playing at small folk clubs in the area with some success. He became a member of the “Backporch Majority,” which played on the back porch of Ledbetter's, a club owned by Randy Sparks of the New Christy Minstrels, a popular folk group. But folk music was in transition at this time, as electric guitars and drums were more often being used, much to the dismay of traditionalists....
Article
Hutchinson Family Singers
Scott E. Gac
Hutchinson Family Singers, musicians and reformers, comprised Adoniram Judson Joseph (14 Mar. 1817–11 Jan. 1859), John Wallace (4 Jan. 1821–29 Oct. 1908), Asa Burnham (14 Mar. 1823–25 Nov. 1884), Abigail Jemima (29 Aug. 1829–23 Nov. 1892), and sometimes ...
Image
Hutchinson Family Singers
In
Article
Hutchinson, Abigail Jemima
See Hutchinson Family Singers
Article
Hutchinson, Adoniram Judson Joseph
See Hutchinson Family Singers
Article
Hutchinson, Asa Burnham
See Hutchinson Family Singers
Article
Hutchinson, Jesse, Jr.
See Hutchinson Family Singers
Article
Hutchinson, John Wallace
See Hutchinson Family Singers
Image
Norman, Jessye M. (15 Sept. 1945–30 Sept. 2019)
Bernard Gotfryd
In
Jessye Norman backstage of Dido and Aeneas at the Opera Philadelphia, c.1982, by Bernard Gotfryd
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Article
Norman, Jessye M. (15 Sept. 1945–30 Sept. 2019), concert artist, opera singer, and philanthropist
Carl DuPont
Norman, Jessye M. (15 Sept. 1945–30 Sept. 2019), concert artist, opera singer, and philanthropist, was born in Augusta, Georgia, as one of five children of Silas Norman Sr. and Janie King Norman. Her father was an insurance salesman; her mother was a schoolteacher. The Normans expected great things from their children even though racial segregation limited opportunities for African Americans. Music formed a welcome retreat; hymns, spirituals, and gospel music were a constant presence in the family home and at their place of worship, Mount Calvary Baptist Church. In this community Jessye Norman began singing solos at age four. At age ten she became inspired by broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. Norman met an idol of hers when she participated in the ...
Article
Robeson, Paul (1898-1976), actor, singer, and civil rights activist
Larry R. Gerlach
Robeson, Paul (09 April 1898–23 January 1976), actor, singer, and civil rights activist, was born Paul Leroy Robeson in Princeton, New Jersey, the son of William Drew Robeson, a Protestant minister, and Maria Louisa Bustill, a schoolteacher. Robeson’s mother died when he was six years old, and he grew up under the influence of a perfectionist father, a former runaway slave who fought in the Union army. During his senior year at the Somerville, New Jersey, high school, he achieved the highest score in a statewide scholarship examination to attend Rutgers College (later Rutgers University). The lone black at Rutgers as a freshman in 1915 and only the third African American to attend the institution, Robeson was an outstanding student and athlete. A varsity debater, he won class prizes for oratory all four years, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, was one of four seniors chosen for membership in the Cap and Skull honorary society, and was named class valedictorian. The 6′ 3″, 215-pound Robeson earned twelve varsity letters in four sports (baseball, basketball, football, and track) and was twice named football All-America (1917 and 1918). According to former Yale coach ...
Image
