Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten (ca. 1892-1987)

Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten, an American folk and blues musician, made her professional debut in 1959 at the age of 67. Discovered by the musically-renowned Seeger family in the 1950s, Cotten was soon recognized for her unique self-taught guitar and banjo picking style and her songs … Read MoreElizabeth “Libba” Cotten (ca. 1892-1987)

Robert Bogle (1774-1848)

Entrepreneur Robert Bogle was the first of many African American caterers who served nineteenth-century Philadelphia’s white elite. Born in 1774, the 1810 federal census shows Bogle and five members of his family in Philadelphia’s South Ward, where the majority of the city’s African American residents … Read MoreRobert Bogle (1774-1848)

Benjamin Harrison Fletcher (1890-1949)

Benjamin Fletcher, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1890, was the most important African American in the most influential radical union of his time, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Fletcher became active in the IWW while working as a longshoreman, loading and unloading cargo … Read MoreBenjamin Harrison Fletcher (1890-1949)

Confounded: The Enigma of “Blind Tom” Wiggins

“I am astounded. I cannot account for it, no one can. No one understands it,” a St Louis man uttered after watching Blind Tom perform in concert in 1866. His mystification was by no means isolated. Few other performers on the nineteenth century stage aroused … Read MoreConfounded: The Enigma of “Blind Tom” Wiggins