Justin Holland, African American Composer for Classical Guitar, Born July 26, 1819

[Justin Holland]

AfriClassical.com features classical guitarist, composer and teacher Justin Holland (1819-1887), who was born July 26, 1819. As a music teacher in Cleveland, he was considered the city's first African American professional. Many customers may not have realized he was an African American, but his sheet music for the guitar was sold nationally.

Since the last anniversary of his birth, Justin Holland has been featured on AfriClassical several times. On August 3, 2010 we posted: “SoupGreens.com: Justin Holland's 'Spanish Fandango, classical/blues nexus.'” On August 8, 2010 AfriClassical posted: “Sheet Music of Justin Holland (1819-1887), African American Composer for Classical Guitar.” We noted that a visitor had asked for assistance in obtaining sheet music for Justin Holland's compositions for guitar. Here is a quote from our reply to the visitor:

“I am happy to hear of your interest! Amaranth Publishing offers sheet music of Justin Holland:

http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/JustinHolland.html

“Our associate Suzanne Flandreau has excellent resources at her disposal. She is Head Librarian and Archivist at the Center for Black Music Research of Columbia College Chicago, 600 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60605. Telephone: 312-369-7346. Fax: 312-369-8029. http://www.colum.edu/cbmr.”

On January 19, 2011 the blog posted: “Works of Justin Holland Performed at Music School of Delaware Jan. 17 on YouTube.com.” A post on January 30, 2011 was titled: “Donald Sauter Identifies Works of Justin Holland on Jan. 17, 2011 Video of Music School of Delaware.” On March 3, 2011 AfriClassical posted: “Detroit Free Press: Justin Holland 'the first African-American to make an important contribution to the guitar.'”