Circus Musicians and The Black Press
Much of what we know about side show musicians is thanks to the documentation of African American newspapers.
Traveling Black musicians such as circus bandleaders were an integral part of developing regional and national African American community in the Reconstruction Era and Gilded Age by way of their relationship with and distribution of newspapers. Even before the postbellum period, the Black press was a central aspect of African-American communities, beginning with Freedom’s Journal in 1827, started by Samuel Cornish (1795-1858) “to counter racist propaganda and provide a forum of communication among African Americans” (Button, “Cornish, Samuel”). With the end of the Civil War, “the number of black publications increased nationally from 12 newspapers in 1866 to nearly 600 by 1890” (Ratzlaff, 131). As African American newspapers proliferated, circus side show musicians became an indispensable part of a “far-flung distribution network” as they “carried them from town to town” (Carroll, 44). Circus musicians were traveling newspaper salesmen: J.O. McNutt was a local agent for the Indianapolis Freeman.The relationship between newspapers and musicians was a symbiotic one, as musicians would promote their ragtimes in the rags. Perhaps the most notable newspaper in this regard is the Indianapolis Freeman, the first illustrated Black newspaper in the United States (Ratzlaff, 131), which included a page-long section dedicated to music: “The Stage.”
Regular features of “The Stage” included “The Freeman Post Office,” which served to distribute regards to and from musicians and their families back home, as well as a “Route” section detailing current traveling groups.
First published in 1888, the Freeman “included more original material than most black newspapers. Correspondents from across the country sent in social and political news about their communities. Frequent inclusion of letters to the editor from different localities testified to the Freeman’s wide-range distribution” (Ratzlaff, 132). Much of this original content (not to mention the publication’s geographically large audience) was from bandleaders and musicians touring with circuses and other groups and troupes. P. G. Lowery “was a regular contributor to the Indianapolis Freeman’s stage and music pages, providing on-the-spot reports of the troupe’s activities, news and not a little self-promotion. These reports provide masses of information and names, down to details about the waiters and porters on their railroad car” (Berresford, 31). Researchers are able to trace the routes of black musicians in this time period because of these seemingly minute details.
Bibliography
- Berresford, Mark. That's Got 'Em! The Life and Music of Wilbur C. Sweatman. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi, 2012.
- Button, Marilyn D. "Cornish, Samuel." The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. : Oxford University Press, , 2002. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 2 Dec. 2020 <https://www-oxfordreference-com.libproxy.lib.ilstu.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195138832.001.0001/acref-9780195138832-e-129>.
- Carroll, Frederick James, "Race News: How Black Reporters and Readers Shaped the Fight for Racial Justice, 1877--1978" (2012). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623352. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-ptak-p544
- Ratzlaff, Aleen J. (2009). "Illustrated African American Journalism: Political Cartooning in the Indianapolis Freeman". In Sachsman, David B. (ed.). Seeking a voice: images of race and gender in the 19th century press. S. Kittrell Rushing, Roy Morris, Jr. West Lafayette: Purdue UP. pp. 131–140.