The Arts
1909?1959. b. Woodville, Miss. He played the tenor saxophone with various bands (1929?40), including those of Fletcher Henderson and Count Basie, with whom he first recorded in 1936. Young and Coleman Hawkins are considered the major influences on tenor-saxophone playing, and Young’s style was important in the development of progressive, or cool, jazz, which arose in the late 1940s. He won several jazz polls and made a number of records, including a series with Billie Holiday, who gave him his nickname, ?President,? later shortened to ?Pres? or ?Prez.?
Business
1876-1934. Walker, the daughter of former slaves, worked from a young age. When her father died, Walker helped her mother run her laundry business. She joined the Independent Order of St. Luke (IOSL) at age 14. The organization was a fraternal order that provided health care for ailing African Americans and helped families make burial arrangements. It also promoted racial solidarity.
Walker graduated from Richmond’s Armstrong Normal School in 1883 and took a teaching job at the Lancaster School. In 1886 she married Armistead Walker, Jr., a building contractor.
She took a position as the executive secretary-treasurer of the debt-ridden IOSL in 1889. In 1902 Walker began publishing the St. Luke Herald, a newsletter to publicize the group’s mission. Under her guidance the IOSL prospered, and she established the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903. She served as president of the bank, which made loans to members of the black community. By 1920, the bank had financed the purchase of about 600 homes. The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank merged with the Second Street Savings Bank and became the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company in 1930. Walker served as its chairman of the board.
Walker was also a founder and president of the Richmond Council of Colored Women, a member of the National Association of Wage Earners, the National Urban League, and a cofounder of the Richmond branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
She had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. In 1915, her son Russell mistook his father for an intruder and shot and killed him.
Entertainment
1909?1978
b. Atlanta. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Among his compositions are three symphonies, Night Music for chamber orchestra, a Short Symphony, and songs, five of which are settings of poems by Langston Hughes.
Education
1875?1939
b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1895; Ph.D., 1899). He was professor (1899?1911) of comparative literature at Columbia, and a founder (1919) of the publishing firm of Harcourt, Brace and Company. His literary work includes A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance (1899), Creative Criticism and Other Essays (1931), and several books of poems. A prominent officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1913 until his death, he established (1913) the Spingarn medal, awarded annually for outstanding achievement by a black American.
The Arts
1886-1939. b. Columbus, Georgia. Often called the ?Mother of the Blues,? Rainey is credited with the rise in popularity of blues music at the beginning of the 20th century. She was also known as the ?Gold Necklace Woman of the Blues? because she carried her wealth in gold dollars on a chain. The child of minstrel show performers, Gertrude Pridgett took to the stage at 14. In 1904, she married Will ?Pa? Rainey and together they performed as the Assassinators of the Blues. She sang for more than 20 years before her recording debut in 1923. Although her recording career lasted a mere six years, she recorded more than 100 songs, including ?Bo-Weavil Blues? and ?Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,? supported by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and Louie Austin. In the 30s, when female blues singers became less popular with audiences, Rainey retired to her hometown. Her obituary described her as a housekeeper but her recording legacy continues to influence successive generations of musicians. Inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, she was honored on a U.S. postage stamp in 1994.
