Justin Holland, featured at AfriClassical.com,
was honored by unveiling of the above historical marker on May 2, 2013
by the Norfolk County Historical Society of Chesapeake, Virginia
(Photo: New Journal & Guide Online)
(Photo: New Journal & Guide Online)
Dr. Ella P. Ward is a Council Member
of the City of Chesapeake, Virginia
Wednesday 22 May 2013
By Dr. Ella P. Ward
Special to the New Journal and Guide
Chesapeake
City Council and the Norfolk County Historical Society unveiled the
VDHR Highway Marker WP-13 on Thursday, May 2, 2013 at the corner of
George Washington Highway and Shell Road. This historic marker for
Justin Holland is the first marker for an African American and for any
individual in the city of Chesapeake. Justin Holland, a world renowned
classical musician, arranger, and teacher of the guitar and guitar
pedagogy, was born a free African in America in Norfolk County (now
Chesapeake) on May 19, 1819. Holland published over 300 arrangements and
two books that were the premier guitar method for instruction books all
over the world for more than 50 years.
Holland discovered a songbook of words and began creating his own
tunes to sing at the age of 8. After the death of both of his parents,
Holland, at age 14, left Virginia for Boston, Massachusetts because of
its reputation as a city of artistic culture and a city where people of
color were faced with fewer obstacles to gaining an education than in
Virginia. Holland applied and was accepted at the prestigious Oberlin
Collegiate Institute in Ohio in 1841 where he studied and perfected the
guitar.
He also studied and spoke fluently Spanish, Italian, and French.
Holland created Holland’s Comprehensive Method for the Guitar
instruction book for students and a second smaller text titled Holland’s
Modern Method. Both works were acclaimed by critics in New York as the
best works of musical instruction that had ever been produced in America
or Europe.
Resource: Norfolk County Historical Society Unveiling Ceremony.
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