African American Composers, Lyricists, and Performers
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Duke University coordinated with Brown University's Library of Congress/Ameritech African-American Sheet Music Digitizing Project to avoid duplication of titles between the two projects. As a result, it was sometimes necessary to identify African American composers/lyricists, performers and publishers. While there was no systematic attempt made to find all of the African Americans who contributed to the musical life in the United States, some people were identified who were or might have been of African ancestry. Some of the names were checked in the African American Bibliographic Database (AABD). Quite a few names have [?]. Those are some we suspect might have been African American, but were unable to find more information.
Composers
Bares, Basile -- full name: Basile J. Bares, fl. 1875- AABD says b. 1846, 2 January, New Orleans
- Negro musicians and their music, p. 197f
- Nos hommes et notre histoire, p. 119
- Negro year book 1913
- Pictorial history of the American Negro, p. 204
- Negro Year book 1913
- The Library of Congress authority file shows him as co-writer with W.C. Handy but he is not listed in AABD
- From a sound recording, Black music issued in 1990.
- The booklet indicates that he was a black Amer. composer and bandleader; lived in St. Louis
- Spirituals arranger
Performers
Brown, Harry Carney, William H.- (Sergt., Civil War. Fort Wagner (S.C.) -- History -- Siege, 1863)
- Part of Richards and Pringles Famous Georgia Minstrels - portrait published in Vancouver, WA
- Williams, Bert, 1875-1922
- Walker, George, 1873-1911
Publishers
Gotham-Attucks [?] H.L. Benham & Co. (174 Race Street, Cincinnati) Pace & Handy
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