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More great information about Black History:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;">BLACK HISTORY MONTH<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;">QUICK FACTS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;">DID YOU KNOW?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 24pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 28pt;">In 1867 * The first black college was
founded in <st1:State w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:State>, and still in
existence,
is <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fisk</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<span style=""> </span></span></b><span
style="font-size: 28pt;"><span style=""> </span>Although work on the
founding of the school
was begun in October 1865, it did not become incorporated under the
laws of the
State of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:place></st1:State>
until August 22, 1867, under the auspices of the American Missionary
Association.<span style=""> </span>The institution opened on
January 9, 1866.<span style=""> </span>It was named in honor
of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Freedmen’s Bureau.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br>
</span></i><span style="font-size: 18pt;">At
the beginning of the twentieth century, <u>Scott Joplin</u>
(1868-1917) was known as
the “King of Ragtime.”</span><i style=""><span style=""> </span></i></b><span
style="font-size: 13pt;">If anything, his music is more popular today
than it
was then.<span style=""> </span>During his lifetime, <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Joplin</st1:place></st1:City>
experienced both
widespread popularity and relative obscurity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:City w:st="on"><span
style="font-size: 13pt;">Joplin</span></st1:City><span
style="font-size: 13pt;">
was born in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Texarkana</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Arkansas</st1:State></st1:place>, in 1868.<span
style=""> </span>He began to study piano as a child,
demonstrating an unusual style.<span style=""> </span>He
started on a tour of the <st1:place w:st="on">Midwest</st1:place>
while he was
still a teenager.<span style=""> </span>In 1893, he performed
at the Columbian Exhibition in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:City>.<span
style=""> </span>During those first years as a performer, he
played classical music and showed himself to be an extremely competent
musician.<span style=""> </span><st1:City w:st="on">Joplin</st1:City>
settled in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sedalia</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Missouri</st1:State></st1:place>, in 1893.<span
style=""> </span>Intending to become a classical pianist, he
studied music at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">George</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">R.</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Smith</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> for
Negroes.<span style=""> </span>While in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sedalia</st1:place></st1:City>, he wrote and published a
number of
songs and found early fame.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Joplin</span></st1:place></st1:City><span
style="font-size: 13pt;"> spent a great deal of time writing his own
music.<span style=""> </span>His most productive period was
from 1899 through 1911.<span style=""> </span>He published his
first major ballet suite in 1902.<span style=""> </span>His
instruction book for the piano, <b style=""><i style="">The School of
Ragtime,</i></b> was published
in 1907.<span style=""> </span>It became a standard for
pianists who played ragtime, a lively kind of music.<span style=""> </span><st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Joplin</st1:place></st1:City>,
through his ragtime compositions, has had a lasting influence.<span
style=""> </span>His <b style=""><i style="">“Maple Leaf Rag,” </i></b>is
one of the most
famous American rags.<span style=""> </span>Some of his
ragtime music was adapted for the score of <b style=""><i style="">The
Sting, </i></b>a movie that was released
in 1973. The composer Marvin Hamlisch won an Academy Award for the
music.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 13pt;">In
1911, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Joplin</st1:place></st1:City>,
published what many consider his most important work, <b style=""><i
style="">Treemonisha.<span style=""> </span></i></b>It has been
called a folk opera or a
ragtime opera, but in it <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Joplin</st1:place></st1:City>
combined all of his musical ideas.<span style=""> </span>He
not only wrote the music but also choreographed it.<span style=""> </span>Even
though he became obsessed with its
success and invested a lot of money in its production, it was performed
only
once during his lifetime.<span style=""> </span><b style=""><i
style="">Treemonisha
</i></b>was revived in 1972 and met with critical acclaim. <span
style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">MARIAN
ANDERSON (1897-1993) was an opera singer.<span style=""> </span></span><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="">
</span></span></i></b><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Marian Anderson
was said
by the great conductor Arturo Toscanini to have the kind of voice that
is
“heard only once in a hundred years.”<span style=""> </span>A
contralto, she began singing as a child at <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:City>’s Union Baptist church.<span
style=""> </span>In 1925, she won the Lewisohn Stadium Concert
Award after competing against 300 other young singers.<span style=""> </span>This
was followed by a concert tour and an
appearance as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.<span
style=""> </span><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Anderson</st1:place></st1:City>
then traveled throughout the world, singing to packed audiences in
country
after country.<span style=""> </span>But <b style="">in 1939, she
was barred from singing in Constitution Hall in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place>
because she was black.</b><span style=""> </span><b style=""><i
style="">The
incident made headlines across the country.<span style="">
</span>In protest, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the
Daughters of
the American Revolution (D.A.R.), which owned Constitution Hall.<span
style=""> </span>She also arranged for <st1:City w:st="on">Anderson</st1:City>
to sing instead at the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lincoln</st1:place></st1:City>
Memorial, where she performed before a crowd of 75,000. </i></b><span
style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span
style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style=""> </span>In 1955,
Marian Anderson became the
first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State>. Two
years
later, she toured <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place> at the request
of the
State Department.<span style=""> </span>In 1958, she was
appointed a member of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
delegation to the United Nations.<span style=""> </span>Her
autobiography is entitled <i style="">My Lord, What a
Morning</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style=""><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">Dean
Charles Dixon (1915-76) was the first black to conduct the <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State>
Philharmonic at the age of
twenty-six and was possibly the first black American recognized as a
symphonic
conductor of international stature.<span style=""> </span></span><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style=""> </span></span></i></b><span
style="font-size: 18pt;">He was the first to hold permanent positions
for long
periods with symphony orchestras, and toured worldwide as a guest
conductor.<span style=""> </span>Born in <st1:City w:st="on">New
York City</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Dixon</st1:City> was
educated at
Juilliard School of Music and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Teachers College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<span
style=""> </span>Dean
Dixon grew up in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">New York City</st1:City></st1:place>
and attended concerts with his mother when he was only three years old.<span
style=""> </span>His mother arranged for him to take violin
lessons at an early age.<span style=""> </span>While Dean was
in high school, he organized an orchestra that met at the Harlem YMCA.<span
style=""> </span>There was no discrimination in Dean’s
orchestra, which became the Dean Dixon Symphony Society.<span style="">
</span>Throughout his career, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dixon</st1:place></st1:City>
inspired others to pursue careers as
musicians and composers.<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Keep reading - more
to come.<br>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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