Joseph Douglass, Director of the Department of Music at Howard University and his Grandfather Frederick Douglass.
@AfricanArchives Early 60s, Howard rules were no jazz in practice rooms.
@AfricanArchives Joseph Henry Douglass (July 3, 1871 – December 7, 1935) was an American concert violinist, the son of Charles Remond Douglass and Mary Elizabeth Murphy, and grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass became the most important leader of the movement for African American civil rights in the 19th century. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, during which he gained fame for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. At the age of 20, after several failed attempts, he escaped from slavery and arrived in New York City on Sept. 4, 1838
Joseph Douglass was born on this date in 1869. He was a Black violinist and composer. Frederick Douglass's grandson was born in the Anacostia area of Washington D.C. to Charles and Mary Elizabeth Douglass, their second child and the only one that would live to adulthood. Following in the path of his grandfather and father, Joseph took up the violin at a young age, receiving classical training at the New England Conservatory for five years and later at the Boston Conservatory. Douglass received his first big break as a concert violinist at 22 when he performed at the World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. On August 25, 1893, performers joined together to celebrate Colored American Day, which Frederick Douglass helped plan years before. Included in the celebrations were readings of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry and performances by Sidney Woodward and Deseria Plato. Douglass is credited as the first Black violinist to make transcontinental tours.
@AfricanArchives Joseph Douglass and how he changed America with music..
@AfricanArchives Umar Johnson said he was supposed to be up in that pic because he told y'all he's related to the late great Frederick Douglass
@AfricanArchives @GeorgeBarilla Thank you for these pictures of black history. They are amazing.