Notable Deaths
*There were 18 recorded lynchings in 1935.
*An African-American man accused of attacking a white woman was lynched by a white mob in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (July 19).
*A 700-person lynch mob in Columbus, Texas hanged two African-American youths accused of raping and murdering a young white woman (November 12). The county attorney said he did not consider the citizens who committed the lynching a mob, and called their act "the expression of the will of the people.
*Namahyoke Sokum Curtis, leader of 32 African American nurses who aided yellow-fever victims in the Spanish-American War, died (November 25) and was interred with honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
*Writer Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson died in Philadelphia (September 18).
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*Bennie Moten, a jazz pianist and band leader who recruited Count Basie for his band, died in Kansas City, Missouri (April 2).
Bennie Moten (b. November 13, 1894, Kansas City, Missouri – d. April 2, 1935, Kansas City, Missouri) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.
Moten led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of the 1930s Big Bands.
Moten's first recordings were made (for OKeh Records) in 1923, and were rather typical interpretations of the New Orleans style of King Oliver and others. They also showed the influence of the ragtime that was still popular in the area, as well as the stomping beat that the band was famous for. These OKeh sides (recorded 1923–1925) are some of the more valuable acoustic jazz 78s of the era and continue to be treasured records in many serious jazz collections.
Moten signed with Victor Records in 1926, and were influenced by the more sophisticated style of Fletcher Henderson, but more often than not featured a hard stomp beat that was extremely popular in Kansas City. Moten remained one of Victor's most popular orchestras through 1930. The song "Kansas City Shuffle" was recorded during this time. (The band recorded prolifically and many of their records were issued in Victor's regular series, therefore, not specifically marketed to the Black community.)
By 1928 Moten's piano was showing some boogie woogie influences, but the real revolution came in 1929 when he recruited Count Basie, Walter Page and Oran "Hot Lips" Page. Walter Page's walking bass lines gave the music an entirely new feel compared to the 2/4 tuba of his predecessor Vernon Page, colored by Basie's understated, syncopated piano fills. Another boon to the band was adding Jimmy Rushing as their primary vocalist.
Their final session (10 recordings made at Victor's Camden, New Jersey, studios on December 13, 1932, during a time when the band was suffering significant financial hardship) showed the early stages of what became known as the "Basie sound", four years before Basie recorded under his own name. By this time, Ben Webster and Rushing had joined Moten's band, but Moten himself did not play on these sessions. These sides (mostly arranged by Eddie Durham) include a number of tunes that later became swing classics:
Moten died at Kansas City's Wheatley-Provident Hospital on April 2, 1935 following a failed tonsillectomy operation. Basie, subsequently, took many of the leading musicians from the band to form his own orchestra.
*****Performing Arts
*The George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess was performed for the first time at the Colonial Theatre in Boston (September 30).
*In Chicago, Big Joe Williams and the Washboard Blues Singers made the first recording of the classic blues song "Baby, Please Don't Go" (October 31).
*Following a triumphal tour of Europe, contralto Marian Anderson performed at Town Hall in New York, prompting the New York Times music critic to call her "one of the great singers of our time."
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*Todd Duncan starred as "Porgy," Ann Brown as "Bess," and John Bubbles as "Sportin' Life" in Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin's 'folk opera, at the Alvin Theater on Broadway.
Todd Duncan, an African American operatic singer, played the role of Porgy in George Gershwin's African American folk opera, Porgy and Bess. John Bubbles, a long-time African American vaudeville star, appeared in the role of Sportin' Life.
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*Eva Jessye became choral director of the premier of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
*Eva Jessye became choral director of the premier of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
Eva Jessye (1895-1992) was a composer, musician, choral director, educator, writer, and actress, became the first African American woman to achieve acclaim as director of a professional choral group. The Eva Jessye Choir performed regularly at the Capital Theater in New York City, from 1926 to 1929. Jessye directed the choir in Hollywood's first African American musical, Hallelujah, in 1929. She was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, graduated from Western University (Quindaro, Kansas), and later attended Langston University in Oklahoma.
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*Langston Hughes' long-running play Mulatto, with Rose McClendon and Morris McKinney, opened on Broadway. Another play by Hughes, Little Ham, was also staged on Broadway.
Mulatto, by Langston Hughes (1902-1967), was the first play by an African American author to be a long-run Broadway hit. It opened at the Vanderbilt Theatre on October 24, 1935, and played continuously until December 9, 1937. The poet and author was born James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri, and graduated from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. He published ten volumes of poetry; more than sixty short stories; a number of dramas, operas, and anthologies; as well as two autobiographies, The Big Sea (1940) and I Wonder as I Wander (1956). Hughes created the African American folk character Jesse B. Simple, and wrote about him in Simple Speaks His Mind (1950), and Simple Stakes a Claim (1957).
Mulatto, by Langston Hughes (1902-1967), was the first play by an African American author to be a long-run Broadway hit. It opened at the Vanderbilt Theatre on October 24, 1935, and played continuously until December 9, 1937. The poet and author was born James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri, and graduated from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. He published ten volumes of poetry; more than sixty short stories; a number of dramas, operas, and anthologies; as well as two autobiographies, The Big Sea (1940) and I Wonder as I Wander (1956). Hughes created the African American folk character Jesse B. Simple, and wrote about him in Simple Speaks His Mind (1950), and Simple Stakes a Claim (1957).
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*The WPA launched the Federal Theater Project in Harlem, which produced such works as J. Augustus Smith's Turpentine and W. E. B. DuBois' Haiti.
*The WPA launched the Federal Theater Project in Harlem, which produced such works as J. Augustus Smith's Turpentine and W. E. B. DuBois' Haiti.
The Federal Theater, which existed from this year through 1940 as part of the WPA, became the most successful Harlem group. The Federal Theater Project in Harlem produced such works as J. Augustus Smith's Turpentine and W. E. B. DuBois' Haiti. The project also performed such standards as Shaw and Shakespeare.
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*William G. Still's Afro-American Symphony was performed at the International Music Festival by the New York Philharmonic.
*William G. Still's Afro-American Symphony was performed at the International Music Festival by the New York Philharmonic.
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*Count Basie formed his own band.
Count (William) Basie (1904-84) was the first African American man to win a Grammy. He was also the first African American from the United States to have a band give a command performance before Queen Elizabeth. Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, Basie began playing the piano while a young teenager and studied with Fats Waller. Basie's own band, formed in Kansas City, Missouri, took the flowering of that city's style to Chicago and New York City. The band established itself as one of the leaders in jazz.
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Politics
*A. Philip Randolph was appointed a member of New York Mayor LaGuardia's Commission on Race.
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Science and Technology
*Chemist Percy Julian developed physostigmine, a drug for the treatment of the eye disease glaucoma.
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Social Organizations
*The National Council of Negro Women was established in New York City. Mary McLeod Bethune served as its first president. Later in the year, she would receive the Spingarn Medal.
*The International Council of Friends of Ethiopia was founded in New York to protest Italy's invasion of that country. Willis N. Huggins, an African American, was named the council president (executive secretary). In this role, Huggins would go to the League of Nations to plead Ethiopia's cause.
*The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs was founded.
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Sports
*Jesse Owens broke five world records and matched a sixth in a single afternoon of track and field events during the Big Ten championships at Ann Arbor, Michigan (May 25).
Louis (born Joe Louis Barrow) was born in Lafayette, Alabama in 1914. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Detroit, Michigan where Louis attended the Duffield Elementary School for a short time. After leaving school, he worked in an automobile plant and, in his leisure time, boxed. Louis became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1937 and held the title until 1949, interrupting his career to serve in World War II. A series of unsuccessful marriages and business ventures left Louis nearly penniless after his retirement from the ring.
African Americans received an emotional boost when the boxer Joe Louis defeated Primo Carnera, at Yankee Stadium in New York. 57,000 boxing fans packed Yankee Stadium to watch Joe Louis defeat Primo Carnera by technical knockout in the sixth round.
*Joe Louis established himself as the number one challenger for boxing's world heavyweight title by knocking out Max Baer in the fourth round of a bout at Yankee Stadium in New York (September 24).
*John Henry Lewis defeated Bob Olin in St. Louis for the World Light Heavyweight Championship of boxing (October 31).
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Statistics
*Median incomes of African Americans and European Americans in selected cities were: New York City, African Americans $980, European Americans $1930, Differential 49.2%; Chicago, African Americans $726, European Americans $1687, Differential 56.9%; Columbus, Ohio, African Americans $831, European Americans $1622, Differential 48.7%; Atlanta, Georgia, African Americans $632, European Americans $1876, Differential 66.3%; Columbia, Georgia, African Americans $576, European Americans $1876, Differential 69.3%; and Mobile, Alabama, African Americans $481, European Americans $1419, Differential 66.1%.
*The 3,500,000 African American families receiving relief represented 21.5% of the total African American population. Of the European American population 12.8% were on relief.
*Georgia, West Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana had higher European American rural relief rates than African Americans. Southern relief administrators disbursed funds more easily to European Americans than African Americans. In addition, Southern African Americans on relief in rural areas received from $2 to $6 less per month than European Americans.
*In the urban North approximately 50% of African American families were on relief (3 to 4 times more than European Americans). In nine cities in the urban South, 25% of African American families and 11% of European American families were on relief. More European Americans with an income below $500 were on relief than African Americans.
*In urban areas, African American relief grants were smaller than European American relief grants. The average for African Americans was $24.18, and for European Americans $29.05.
*Of relief recipients who found employment, 8.8% of the African Americans received less in wages than they did on relief, while only 2.7% of the European Americans did.
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Visual Arts
*The Harlem Artists Guild was formed to voice African American artists' concerns.
*Sargent Johnson created his sculpture Forever Free, which won the San Francisco Art Association medal.
*The Whitney Museum of American Art purchased African Dancer and two other sculptures by Richmond Barthe.
*Under the WPA program, Charles Alston and other African-American artists painted the Harlem Hospital murals.
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