Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1849-1908): Continually Enslaved

by Geneva Handy Southall

Blind Tom was the stage name of Thomas Greene Wiggins, born into slavery in 1849. This is the final volume in a trilogy by Southall (emeritus, African-American studies, U. of Minnesota) relating the exploitation of this black musical prodigy as some 1908 obituaries noted, and countering the downgrading of his talent due to prejudice.

Genres: Music, Biography

232 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1999

Reviews

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer: Continually Enslaved by Geneva H. Southall. It's important that musicians of color from the 1800s are included in the Western Music History Canon. Unfortunately, I feel that this account has left a lot to be desired. It reads more as a timeline than a cohesive narrative. Southall does mention that there are not many accounts other than newspaper clippings, but one can only read newspaper announcements so long. I think this book would have benefited from diving into the known compositions and doing some basic compositional analysis.

If Blind Tom were written about a known composer/performer, I would have given this one star, however, the importance of writing about people like Blind Tom outweigh the lack of narrative. Worth the read.

[Fledchen]

This book is part of my participation in the "Read 50 Books by People of Color" challenge