Cultural Uplift Through Music Education

Tim Provost

When we think about the phrase “music education,” the first image that probably comes to mind is that of a student sitting in a school learning to read music or play an instrument. Indeed, public schools and conservatories have become some of the most important sources of modern music education in America, and they have provided opportunities for countless students. However, access to music education was not always so straightforward, especially for students of color. Because of America’s history of slavery and racial discrimination, African American musicians had to spend centuries working to achieve access to the kind of music education that we now take for granted. Education has always been highly politicized in the United States and increased access to education often symbolized social progress in general. Before the 19th century, the idea of widespread music education for non-white students was completely out of the question. Slavery was still in full-force, and even free African Americans were largely pushed into the margins of society. However, subtle social shifts began to emerge during the 19th century. Education for oppressed groups was still very limited, but there were increasing opportunities for educational expansion and advocacy. Because traditional schooling was either completely inaccessible or horribly segregated, African American teachers had to find creative ways to support their communities.

Music teachers in particular were forced to work through other cultural institutions in order to connect with students. African American music education became a kind of cultural mosaic as teachers worked to create more opportunities. Professionals from a wide range of fields began using their influence to help spread the benefits of music. Although they all faced tremendous injustices, the efforts of these trailblazing teachers ultimately created major societal changes in the United States. 19th-century music educators of color served as a locus for cultural empowerment within their communities as they fought for greater inclusion in religious organizations, the military, and academia.

Religious Organizations

Occramer Marycoo

Throughout the later half of the 18th century, churches and other religious organizations were some of the most important sources of education in the African American community. The connection between faith groups and inclusive education is exemplified by the composer and teacher Occramer Marycoo. Marycoo, also known as Newport Gardner, was born in Africa in 1746 and taken to the colonies as a slave around 1760. Because of his enslavement and his young age upon arriving in America, little is known about his early life. Scholars are still unsure about his birth country and his education prior to being captured. Our records of Marycoo’s life and work begin in the early 1760s, when he was purchased by a Rhode Island sea captain named Caleb Gardner. He quickly taught himself both English and Western music notation, and eventually became deeply involved in his local church community (Southern 1976).

This church, the First Congregational Church of Rhode Island, was led by Reverend Samuel Hopkins, an outspoken abolitionist and activist. Marycoo developed a close relationship with Hopkins and gradually became one of the church’s leading musicians. While life was still brutally difficult as an enslaved musician, Marycoo was able to use this small foothold in society to gain increasing levels of independence. After years of diligent service as a performer, he eventually began taking on teaching and leadership roles within the church, which became a crucial source of income. His connections with Hopkins also allowed him to work towards freeing himself. Eventually, using his savings and winnings from a local lottery, Marycoo was able to purchase his freedom in 1791 (New England Historical Society 2016).

A portrait of Occramer Marycoo

After achieving his freedom, Marycoo became an even stronger musical leader in his community. He quickly became a deacon in Hopkins’ church and began publishing his own original spiritual pieces. His work as a music teacher and choir director also continued to develop throughout the beginning of the 19th century. Despite the oppressive racism of New England at this time, Marycoo’s status within the church granted him a level of protection that wasn’t afforded to most formerly enslaved people. Aware of his newfound social status, Marycoo began leveraging his work as a music teacher to uplift and support African Americans. He founded and directed a schoolhouse for African American children with the help of Newport’s African Benevolent Society. This school became so successful and influential that Marycoo ultimately transformed it into Newport’s first black church, known as the Colored Union Church, in 1824. He continued to prolifically teach music and compose within this new organization (Southern 1976). After having firmly established himself within Newport’s musical and religious communities, Marycoo took his talents to Boston in 1825. He did so in order to work more closely with churches seeking to help freed slaves return to Africa (Millar, 2020).

"Crooked Shanks", one of Marycoo's only surviving works

The building that previously housed the Colored Union Church

Marycoo’s educational and musical achievements were truly remarkable for his time. Through his work, he went from being enslaved to being one of Rhode Island’s leading teachers and composers. He pushed the racial boundaries of New England more than perhaps any other musician of this era. Marycoo was one of the first non-white artists to achieve genuine influence within mainstream society. While he mostly found favor with the traditionally anti-slavery Congregationalists, he also had an undeniable impact on New England’s Christian community as a whole. People came from all over Rhode Island to participate in his services and study with him (Southern 1976). His dedication to faith and education was undeniable proof that people of color could successfully hold leadership roles within Christian organizations. His successes in music also allowed him to provide life-changing philanthropic services to hundreds of African Americans. By tirelessly advocating for the music education of African Americans in churches, he laid the foundation for centuries of future non-white teachers.

Nellie Brown Mitchell

Another African American artist who used music education to create greater inclusivity within churches was the singer Nellie Brown Mitchell. Born to free parents in New Hampshire in 1845, Mitchell began her musical studies as a soprano at her local church. Her talents were clear from a young age, and she was eventually admitted into the traditionally white Franklin Academy in Dover. She found immediate success upon graduating from this school and quickly became one of the area’s most sought-after church singers (Nettles 2017).

Throughout her early career, Mitchell served as the lead soloist for the Washington Street Freewill Baptist Society of Dover and the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church of Haverhill. Both of these positions earned her significant acclaim within New Hampshire’s Protestant community. After years as a performer, Mitchell began professionally teaching in 1879. She became the musical director of the Broomfield Street Methodist Episcopal Church and had many private students there. Despite the fact that this church had been traditionally white up until this point, she found great success in her new role as a teacher. One of the early highlights of her teaching career was leading a large-scale production of the operetta Laila, the Fairy Queen with local students (Gable-Wilson 2005).

Mitchell’s monumental successes in the face of post-Reconstruction racism are a testament to the importance of religious groups in furthering social equality. Through her years of hard work within New England’s religious community, she attained national recognition. Mitchell became well regarded in churches throughout the entire region, and was largely able to push back against the racism that had plagued her early career. It was incredibly difficult for a person of color to win jobs (much less respect) in a field as Eurocentric as opera. Brown began her life as a church singer during the height of minstrel shows, which was a time of intense violence and hatred towards African American performers. While she was quickly embraced by communities in her native state of New Hampshire, she had to work tirelessly to overcome the nation’s overall fixation on minstrelsy and demeaning portrayals of African Americans.

In many states, it was expected that artists of color would be ridiculed and harassed. Most non-white musicians were forced into this line of work by severe economic pressures, but Brown was thankfully able to resist these horribly racist social expectations. She remained undeterred in her craft even as she struggled to find success in Southern and Midwestern states. Brown’s dedication would ultimately pay off, with an 1886 news story in the Cleveland Gazette calling her “America’s greatest singer of African descent” (Cleveland Gazette 1886). This kind of achievement was a great source of inspiration for her African American students and audiences. Although she struggled to gain lasting fame (as was the case with most African American musicians of this era), her impact on America’s religious music landscape was undeniable.

1888 Newspaper review of one of Smith's performances

Music in the Military

Francis Johnson

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, African American teachers made similar social advancements within the military as well. The roots of inclusive music education by military officers can be traced back to the Revolutionary War. Although African American soldiers weren’t typically allowed to hold rank (or even wield weapons, in many cases), they were often given field instruments and basic musical training. At the end of the war, these soldiers returned to their communities and began teaching and forming their own bands. While these bands were originally shunned by white society, many incredibly talented performers and composers emerged from this “secondhand” music education system (Clark 2019). Eventually, many of these musicians enlisted in the army in the War of 1812 and began taking on more prominent roles in late-18th-century American military culture. These musicians served as multi-instrumentalists, teachers, and sometimes even bandleaders.

One military musician who gained particular fame in the early 19th century was the bugler and composer Francis Johnson. Although Johnson never personally served in the military, he owed his own musical instruction to former servicemen and bandleaders, such as Richard Willis of West Point Academy. As a bandleader for many regiments, Johnson became an integral part of America’s army-music scene and taught many musicians who would continue the legacy of African American music teachers in the military (Taylor 2005). Although the origins of African American education in the military were deeply racist and segregated, the musicians trained in this way were able to translate their knowledge into generations of musical progress. Band leaders like Johnson and his successors would continue to find steady work throughout the 19th century up until the Civil War. Expectedly, the outbreak of a war in the name of racial violence created significant challenges for African American artists.

In the years immediately following the Civil War, military band positions were some of the most lucrative work available to musicians. However, the economic promise of such jobs made them practically inaccessible for African American soldiers. There were only four African American regiments in the United States Army between 1870 and 1917, and all of their regimental bands were originally led by white officers. This blatant disrespect for non-white servicemen was common at this time, but the selective segregation of musical leadership was particularly insidious. It wasn’t until the 1890s that African American musicians won the right to serve as bandmasters. One of the first musicians to earn any sort of leadership was George A. Swan, who would later go on to work with W.C. Handy. In a 1941 interview, Handy recalled being “early impressed by [Swan’s] military bearing” (Lefferts 2013). Unfortunately, very little is known about Swan and his contemporaries in late 19th-century military bands. The first wave of true, well-documented progress wouldn’t arrive until several years later.

Walter Loving

One of the first pioneering military teachers for whom we have detailed records is Lieutenant Walter H. Loving. Born in Southern Virginia in 1872, Loving spent most of his early childhood studying with his sister in Washington, D.C. He received extensive training on the cornet, and eventually enlisted in the army in 1893. Although the military was hesitant to allow an African American man to enlist strictly as a musician, his request was ultimately granted. Loving’s musical talents were undeniable, and he was quickly promoted to bandleader of the Eighth Volunteers Regiment in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Loving was successful in this role, and he became well-known throughout his post in Kentucky as a music teacher. One local Reverend wrote in 1898 that Loving would be “successful as a chief musician of any regiment band” (Richardson 1982).

After the war ended in the Spring of 1898, the military began the process of disassembling many of its temporary regiments, including Loving’s. Most musicians from these regiments either returned to civilian life or got reappointed to different groups. However, this restructuring created significant challenges for Loving and other African American bandleaders. They were not offered any leadership or teaching positions in white or mixed race regiments, and were essentially forced to choose between being demoted and reassigned or discharged from the military altogether. For a time, Loving was in danger of having his career completely ended by the military’s racist power structures. However, this dilemma was resolved when, in 1902, Loving moved to the Philippines to become the director of the Philippines Constabulary Band. This post allowed him to continue his music educational pursuits on a much larger scale, and he undoubtedly became one of the most famous American bandleaders in all of the United States’ military. Loving’s widespread success as a teacher and bandleader was a major influence on President Taft’s 1907 order that African American musicians be allowed to serve as full-time bandleaders in their regiments (Lefferts 2013).

Through the centuries of achievements by teachers like Johnson and Loving, military bands became one of the greatest sources of opportunity and empowerment for African American musicians. Their efforts tore down long-standing racial barriers to musical success, and they created a lasting institution of American music education.

Walter Loving and the Philippines Constabulary Band

Academia

Harriet Gibbs Marshall

In any discussion of music education, it would be horribly unfair to not discuss the teachers who helped address the racism at the core of musical academia. While every aspect of American culture has been historically segregated, schools are one of the most obvious sources of racial inequality. One of the first music educators to take a stand against this inequality was Harriet Gibbs Marshall. Marshall was born in 1868 in British Columbia, Canada and moved to Oberlin, Ohio with her family in 1869. Her parents were both free, and her father was a well-known politician and ambassador. She began her musical studies at a young age and quickly became proficient both as a pianist and a singer. At the age of 15, Marshall began studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and went on to become the school’s first female African American graduate in 1889 (Oberlin College 2020).

Upon completion of her studies, Marshall turned her attention to teaching. She held several notable teaching positions throughout the South, including a job as a professor/tutor at Eckstein-Norton University in Cane Spring, Kentucky. After firmly establishing herself as an educator, she was invited to become the Assistant Director of Music for African-American public schools in Washington, D.C. This was a major boon to Marshall’s career, but she was deeply frustrated by the lack of funding and equal opportunities for African American education. After several years of unsuccessfully lobbying her administrators for extra support, Marshall decided to assemble a group of like-minded music teachers and found her own conservatory. This school, called the Washington Conservatory of Music, was opened in 1903 and quickly became one of the most important educational institutions in the Mid-Atlantic (Patterson 2007). Marshall assembled an incredibly impressive faculty, including Clarence Cameron White, Emma Azalia Smith Hackley, and many other renowned African American musicians. The creation of this conservatory marked a major shift in the dynamics of music academia in America. For the first time in the history of the United States, African American teachers were able to direct a school as they saw fit. Their curriculum was free from the discrimination and neglect that had defined most non-white musical study.

The building that previously housed the Washington Conservatory of Music

Emma Azalia Hackley

Clarence Cameron White

Despite the social impact of Marshall’s work, her school initially struggled to stay open. She had to tirelessly fundraise in order to pay the rent, and the idea of an all-Black music school was not well-received by many members of D.C.’s white music community. However, prominent social activists such as W.E.B. DuBois recognized the value of Marshall’s Conservatory and were able to provide enough funds to support it (Erickson 2020).

The Washington Conservatory of Music attracted students from all across the country, and, much like in the case of military music education, marked the beginning of a centuries-long legacy of music teachers. Graduates from Marshall’s school would go on to teach at institutions including the Prairie View Normal School in Texas. One of Marshall’s students, Henry Grant, would even go on to be Duke Ellington’s Harmony teacher at Dunbar High School (Patterson 2007). Through advocating for the rights of African American music students, Marshall had opened countless doors for future generations. She created a niche within the oppressively racist world of academia in which students of color could study and develop as professionals. Through her work, Marshall made clear to the nation that African American musicians were every bit as deserving, talented, and intelligent as their white peers.

References

Clark, Robert H. “A Narrative History of African American Marching Band: Toward A Historicultural Understanding.” Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 41, no. 1 (2019): 5–32.

Erickson, Shannon. “Harriet Gibbs Marshall (1868-1941).” BlackPast, July 25, 2020. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/marshall-harriet-gibbs-1868-1941/.

“Francis Johnson.” University Archives and Records Center. University of Pennsylvania, 2021. https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/francis-johnson.

“From Africa to Newport and Back – Musician Occramer Marycoo's Incredible Journey.” New England Historical Society, August 19, 2016. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/africa-newport-back-musician-occramer-marycoos-incredible-journey/.

Gable-Wilson, Sonya R. “Let Freedom Sing!: Four African-American Concert Singers in Nineteenth-Century America.” PhD Dissertation, University of Florida, 2005.

Lefferts, Peter. “U.S. Army Black Regimental Bands and the Appointments of Their First Black Bandmasters.” Black Music Research Journal 33, no. 2 (2013): 151–72.

Lewis, William Dukes. “Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum: Performance Traditions of Historically Black College and University Marching Bands.” PhD Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003.

Millar, John. “Newport Gardner: From Slave to Musical Composer.” Small State Big History: The Online Review of Rhode Island History, 2020. http://smallstatebighistory.com/newport-gardner-from-slave-to-musical-composer/.

Nettles, Darryl. “Nellie Brown Mitchell (1845 – 1924).” Black Heritage Trail New Hampshire, 2017. https://blackheritagetrailnh.org/did-you-know/.

“Oberlin's Women: Harriette Gibbs Marshall.” Oberlin's Women: A Legacy of Leadership & Activism. Oberlin College, 2020. https://scalar.oberlincollegelibrary.org/suffrage/marshall.

Patterson, DeAnna Rose. “A History of Three African-American Women Who Made Important Contributions to Music Education between 1903 and 1960.” PhD Dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2007.

Richardson, Claiborne T. “The Filipino-American Phenomenon: The Loving Touch.” The Black Perspective in Music 10, no. 1 (1982): 3–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/1214996.

Southern, J. “Newport Gardner (1746-1826).” The Black Perspective in Music 4, no. 2 (1976): 202–7. https://doi.org/10.2307/1214509.

Taylor, Frederick. “Black Music and Musicians in the Nineteenth Century.” The Western Joumal of Black Studies 29, no. 3 (2005): 615–21.

Tim Provost

Tim Provost, a graduate of UMBC with a degree in Music Education, is a native of Hyattsville, Maryland and has been teaching music since the age of 16. He has worked with the Baltimore Symphony OrchKids program, the Bridges Music Program, and runs a private lesson studio whose students have received superior scores at many regional Solo and Ensemble festivals. Tim is also a member of the DC Youth Orchestra Program’s double bass faculty. As a performer, Tim gigs on bass throughout the Baltimore/DC area and plays with the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra.

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