[The Music of Francis Johnson & His Contemporaries: Early 19th-Century Black Composers; Diane Monroe, Violin; The Chestnut Brass Company and Friends; Tamara Brooks, Conductor; Music Masters 7029-2-C (1990)]
We Need To STOP:
William J. Zick has done a fine job over at AfriClassical.com of compiling information on historical African American classical musicians. I like classical music, but I would not say you can find me in the record store aisle browsing CD covers, but this site is worth looking at. Figure skating is a sport I follow, so I can recognize a work or few. It is absolutely fabulous with its audio, photos, and important stories. It is a good visit for students and if you have children learning to play instruments. Perhaps they will appreciate lessons a bit more.
One of the musicians featured on his site is bandleader Francis Johnson (1792-1844) and he led the first African American musicians to Europe according to Zick. A research publication excerpt, from professor Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University, featured on Zick's site, details some of Frank's racial discrimination trials:
"Johnson's career was never far from the ugliest forms of racial persecution. White bands often refused to participate in parades when Johnson's band was scheduled to appear; and when the band toured to St. Louis, Missouri, its members were arraigned, fined and ordered from the state under laws prohibiting the entry of free Blacks. A particularly violent incident occurred near Pittsburgh: "At the close of the concert the mob followed Mr. Johnson and his company shouting "n____" and other opprobrious epithets, and hurling brick-bats, stones and rotten eggs in great profusion upon the unfortunate performers. One poor fellow was severely, it is feared dangerously, wounded in the head, and others were more or less hurt. No thanks to the mobocrats that life was not taken, for they hurled their missiles with murderous recklessness if not with murderous intention." The Tribune [NY], May 23, 1843."
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