Eubie+Blake

James Herbert Blake (Eubie Blake) was a famous composer, performer, songwriter, musician, historian, and educator during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Born on February 7, 1883, Blake was the youngest of 11 children; however, he was the only one to survive infancy. When Blake was only 6 years old, his musical talents began to be recognized. One day when he and his mother were out shopping, young Blake went into a music store, sat down at an organ, and began playing. His mom then bought him the organ and signed him up for piano lessons. The significance of this story is at Blake was only 6 years old. Blake’s family wasn’t very wealthy considering that his parents were former slaves, but they managed to make ends meet. At age 16, Blake’s first published piece, originally called Sounds of Africa, was released. This piece was later renamed the Charleston Rag. When Blake was about 24 years old, one of his friends opened a hotel that he ended up playing multiple shows for. This experience really helped jumpstart his career, for not only did it give him the knowledge of performing in a show, but he would also get the opportunity to meet many famous and rich people at his shows. After spending a few years performing at the hotel, Blake reached out and began performing at various theaters and other events. In 1916, Blake became performing partners with Noble Sissle; the two found they worked very well together. The two became famously known as the Dixie Duo. One thing that Blake is very famous for is the 1921 hit musical, Shuffle Along. This musical was unlike any other musical of it’s time because for one, it had an all African American cast. Another thing that made this musical amazing was that it included famous performers such as Josephine Baker and Ethel Waters. This musical was wildly popular and is often referred to as the start of the Harlem Renaissance. After a short time of the musical being released, a refferance to the musical appeared in Langston Hughes’ books, “The Big Sea”. Some of his famous pieces include “I’m Just Wild About Harry” which later became the campaign song for President Harry Truman. Not only did Blake write music for Swing it, but he aslo wrote music for Chocolate Dandies and Blackbirds of 1930. In the end, Blake was wildly sucessful with over 300 published pieces. Near the end of his life, when he was about 80, Blake came out with a musical called Eubie! which became very sucessful. The interesting thing about this musical is that even at age 80, Blake still preformed in the musical with the cast. Near the end of his life, Blake recieved the Presidental medal of Freedom, which is a very high honor. By the end of his life, Blake had acumulated degrees from Brooklyn College in New York, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, Rutgers University in New Jersey, and The New England Conservatory of Music in Massachusetts. Another one of Blake’s accomplishments was that he was one of the only African Americans to tour with White Vaudville. When Blake died, 5 days after his 100th birthday, he was living in New York. When people look back on Eubie Blake’s life, they remember an always cheerful guy who absolutely loved to sing and make people happy.

"Charleston Rag" //.// Cited sources:

Hardy, Stephen and Hardy,Shelia. Extraordinary People of The Harlem Renaissance. 2000. Print.

West, Sandra and Aberjhandi. "Blake, Eubie (James Hubert Blake). 2003.Print.

Graziano, John. "Eubie Blake". Gale encyclopedia in Context. Web. February 16, 2011.

// ~K.N.G //