New York Historical Society Celebrates 250th Birthday of Lafayette With Music of Francis Johnson

[The Music of Francis Johnson & His Contemporaries: Early 19th-Century Black Composers; Honor To The Brave: Gen. Lafayette's Grand March (3:57); Diane Monroe, Violin; The Chestnut Brass Company and Friends; Tamara Brooks, Conductor; Music Masters 7029-2-C (1990)]

NEW YORK, NY - History comes to life for the whole family at the New York Historical Society in celebration of the 250th birthday of our French Founding Father - Lafayette.

An engaging, uplifting, interactive exhibition, French Founding Father: Lafayette's Return to Washington's America allows people of all ages to see, touch and experience history. Start by picking up a free brochure filled with fun activities for kids to complete as they go through the exhibition.

Don't miss the fireworks display in the Great Hall in front of the mural recreating the hero's welcome Lafayette received upon his arrival in New York. Kids will recognize in the mural the harbor of today's New York and the round building of Castle Clinton that still stands in Battery Park, near where the Statue of Liberty Tour boats debark. In that very place over 6,000 elegantly dressed guests danced the night away to welcome the aging hero.

As you progress upstairs, listen to celebratory band music by Francis Johnson, a black composer who was the first major bandleader in the U.S. Full Article

[Francis B. Johnson composed Honor To The Brave: Gen. Lafayette's Grand March (3:57) and is profiled at AfriClassical.com]

We Need To STOP: Francis B. "Frank" Johnson: Black Bugler & Composer

[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."