 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(October 2020) |
The Prairie View Co-eds were an all-female band that formed in the 1940s at the historically black Prairie View A&M University. The band formed in response to more and more males being drafted into the armed forces. The Prairie View Co-eds' success soon spread past the limits of their college campus though, and they were soon touring and traveling much of the year.
In the early 1940s, Prairie View College was one of the leading African American colleges in the country, and one of the only four-year public schools African Americans could attend in Texas. The band that dominated the campus was the Prairie View Collegians, an all-male group that played gigs on campus as well as some touring. When she arrived at the school, the exceedingly skilled Bert Etta Davis auditioned for the Prairie View Collegians and was accepted by the band leader. An extremely talented alto saxophonist, Davis ended up being turned away from the band by the Dean of Women who found the concept of a woman playing in an all men's band too scandalous to allow.
By 1943 though, the times had changed. The Prairie View Collegians had lost many members to the draft, and lacked the numbers to continue making strong performances. Will Henry Bennett [lower-roman 1] began to make a move to start an all-female dance band, possibly in response to having seen The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. The band was a hodge-podge of talent its first year. The group did draw some talented players like Davis, but also recruited from people to whom playing was just an extracurricular activity. They also relied on music majors to fill spots and pick up new instruments that no one had been trained on. This group was not merely a collection of beginners though. While the original venues of the Co-eds was campus parties and events, it wasn't very long before they began to be invited off campus. With most men's orchestras having fallen to pieces, The Prairie View Co-eds filled a need. A chaperone followed the band to their destinations in order to make sure the reputation of these educated young women would not be sullied. [1]
After its first year of popularity, the Prairie View Co-eds began to make a name for themselves. Through word of mouth, the tale of a skilled collegiate all-female band spread, and soon talented musicians were actively coming to Prairie View College in order to join the Co-eds. This marked a distinct shift from extracurricular activity performed casually to a greater focus on musicianship as a career for these women. The Co-eds went on more serious tours, often taking a teacher and a chaperone with them. Soon summer and winter tours were also established, and the Prairie View Co-eds were functioning like professionals. This group was championed by the Black press as symbols of successful, educated African American women who seemed to be representative of a patriotic spirit. The Prairie View Co-eds were even able to perform at USO shows. Their performance marked a success for black military personnel who were often excluded from the entertainment white soldiers received. The Co-eds played to black and white soldier audiences, meaning that African American soldiers were not just getting the entertainment they were so often denied, but they were also getting the performance from an African American group.
The Prairie View Co-eds also engaged in rather extreme tours during the summer months. They were constant professionals and worked with the Moe Gale Agency, Gale being the owner of the Savoy Ballroom. Touring was difficult during this time period as many problems were encountered with the rationing that occurred because of the war. Gas and rubber for tires were rationed, and oftentimes the only reason the Co-eds had access to ration coupons for these items was because of their work with the USO. Touring seemed to be worth it though, as the Prairie View Co-eds were able to perform at venues such as the Apollo Theater. The fact that they were listed as Co-eds was important too, as it confirmed them as symbols of educated African Americans, as well as being youthful and attractive.
Ripon College is a private liberal arts college in Ripon, Wisconsin. As of 2020, the college enrolled around 800 students, the majority of whom lived on campus. 52% of students were female, and nearly 80% of students were Wisconsin residents.
Alabama State University is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 it became a four-year women's college. It is one of two historically black colleges that enroll only women, the other being Spelman College.
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store—now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum—in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolworth Company department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. While not the first sit-in of the civil rights movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and also the best-known sit-ins of the civil rights movement. They are considered a catalyst to the subsequent sit-in movement, in which 70,000 people participated. This sit-in was a contributing factor in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas. Established in 1875, Huston–Tillotson University was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the United Negro College Fund. Huston–Tillotson University awards bachelor's degrees in business, education, the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, science, and technology and a master's degree in educational leadership. The university also offers alternative teacher certification and academic programs for undergraduates interested in pursuing post-graduate degrees in law and medicine.
Prairie View A&M University is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learning in the state. It offers baccalaureate degrees in 50 academic majors, 37 master's degrees and four doctoral degree programs through eight colleges and the School of Architecture. PVAMU is the largest HBCU in the state of Texas and the third largest HBCU in the United States. PVAMU is a member of the Texas A&M University System and Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
The talented tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African Americans in the early 20th century. Although the term was created by white Northern philanthropists, it is primarily associated with W. E. B. Du Bois, who used it as title of an influential essay, published in 1903. It appeared in The Negro Problem, a collection of essays written by leading African Americans and assembled by Booker T. Washington.
While most of the traditional women's fraternities or sororities were founded decades before the start of the 20th century, the first ever specifically Christian-themed Greek Letter Organization formed was the Kappa Phi Club, founded in Kansas in 1916. Kappa Phi was a women's sisterhood that developed out of a bible study and remains one of the largest nationally present Christian women's collegiate clubs today. Later organizations added more defined social programming along with a Christian emphasis, bridging the gap between non-secular traditional sororities and church-sponsored bible study groups, campus ministries and sect-based clubs and study groups.
Clora Larea Bryant was an American jazz trumpeter. She was the only female trumpeter to perform with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and was a member of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that included the Apollo Theater in New York City, the Regal Theater in Chicago, and the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. After a performance in Chicago in 1943, the Chicago Defender announced the band was "one of the hottest stage shows that ever raised the roof of the theater!" They have been labeled "the most prominent and probably best female aggregation of the Big Band era". During feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s in America, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm became popular with feminist writers and musicologists who made it their goal to change the discourse on the history of jazz to include both men and women musicians. Flutist Antoinette Handy was one scholar who documented the story of these female musicians of color.
Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, six or seven nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges, Lions Clubs, hotel ballrooms, and the like. Francis Davis, jazz critic for The Village Voice, likened territory bands to "the Top 40 cover bands of their day, typically relying on stock arrangements of other ensembles' hits." He said, "many historians give much credit to territory bands for popularizing modern ballroom dancing that began during the World War I era with the influence of Vernon and Irene Castle."
The Darlings of Rhythm was an African American, all-female swing band from the 1940s.
The Harlem Playgirls was an African American swing band active in the Midwest and throughout the United States from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s.
Sherrie Jean Tucker is a musicologist, music historian, book author, professor, and journal editor. Tucker is co-editor-in-chief of American Studies, peer-reviewed academic journal.
Willa Beatrice Player was an American educator, college administrator, college president, civil rights activist, and federal appointee. Player was the first African-American woman to become president of a four-year, fully accredited liberal arts college when she took the position at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Pauline Braddy Williams was an American jazz drummer. She drummed with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an integrated, all-female swing band, from 1939 to 1955; Braddy herself was African-American. Braddy was known as "Queen of the Drums".
Erma Johnson Hadley was an American educator, the first woman and first African-American to serve as chancellor of Tarrant County College. She was named to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.
Ernestine Carroll Davis, better known as Tiny Davis, was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist.
Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra was an African-American all-female band started by arranger Eddie Durham in January 1942. By November, the All-Stars were a part of Moe Gale's New York agency. The group was also known as "Eddie Durham's All-Girl Band" and performed throughout the country and internationally. The All-Stars typically had between eighteen and twenty-two members and pulled musicians from other popular bands of the time, including The Harlem Playgirls and The International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
Rosalind Cron was an American alto-saxophonist. During the 1940s she played with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female jazz big band. She toured and performed for American soldiers in post-war Europe and was broadcast on national and international radio.