Jackson's Music School of Chicago

 

Professional photographers
face their greatest challenge
when hired to take a photo of a large group of people.
Will there be enough space to accommodate them all?
Is there a good place for the camera? A balcony or raised platform?
How is the lighting? Any distracting reflections?

Then a photographer must tackle the difficult logistics of arranging people.
Children can always go on the floor in front,
but women usually prefer to sit.
Are there enough chairs?
Tall men, of course, stand at the back
but short fellas are going to need a step up.

Finally there's the question of where to place important people.
Typically center is best, but sometimes they insist being on the sidelines.
And every so often, subjects come with accessories that need to be displayed.
Things like flowers, banners, fraternal regalia,
sporting equipment, or the most troublesome—musical instruments.
That's when the photographer becomes a stage manager,
a theater director guiding the actors
to find their character's true expression.
It takes time and skill to position everyone just right.
Then the photographer takes a deep breath and shouts,
"Ready? Eyes on the camera everyone!"
"One,     two,    three!"
The shutter clicks and the moment is captured.

The photographer of Webb Studio in Chicago
needed a lot of skill to take a photo of this very large group of musicians.
It must have been a test of everyone's patience
as the children and adults look like
they've become very tired of waiting.
Any smiles are few and far between.

It's a class photograph of students at
 W. L. Jackson's Music School
3027 State Street in Chicago, Illinois.

The group numbers 72 people plus Prof. Jackson who stands on the right dressed in a formal white tie and tailcoat. They are in a room with a very tall ceiling but it's only about 25-27 feet wide. In the front are a row of young boys, about age 10-12, seated on a long plank laid atop wooden boxes. The next two rows are mostly women who are so close together I think they are sitting on higher benches. Behind them are people standing with the back rows of men on higher risers. On the left is an upright piano.

There are 39 violinists, six trombonists, five clarinetists, five cornet or trumpet players, two drummers, one tenor saxophonist, and one mellophone player. Thirteen people have no instrument but some hold a scroll of paper symbolizing they are a pianist or organist. The others may be vocalists. Most of the group are men and boys, but there are 28 women, some looking older than 30. But there is one common  element for the entire group. They are all African-American musicians.

The date of this large 10" x 8" photo is hard to estimate, but judging by the women's hair and dress styles and the boys in knee pants with long stockings (each with neatly crossed legs) I think this was taken some time around 1918-1925. 

Prof. Jackson has the look of a professional musician though I can't tell if he has a baton or a violin bow in his hand. I'm sure everyone called him "professor" because in earlier times every band leader or music teacher was given this honorific regardless of whether they had any academic diplomas. A search through the Chicago city directories produced several listings for Jackson's Music School under "Music Schools" from 1919 to 1928. 

1921 Chicago city directory

The small notice  claimed it was "The Largest, Best and Cheapest, Practical Music School in Chicago. Conducted by W. L. Jackson, teacher of all brass and string instruments, violin, piano, mandolin and guitar." The address at 3027 State Street matched the photograph's caption. However finding W. L. Jackson's full name presented a challenge. 

1911 Chicago city directory

The city directory of Chicago is an imposing volume of names and businesses laid out in four columns a page in very tine print. The surname Jackson is one of the more common names and with a forename initial of W, there are a lot of choices from Walker to Wylam. But fortunately there were only three men named Walter L. Jackson, and only one with the occupation "music teacher". His residence was at 3235 S. State Street, practically next door to his music school. 

Beyond this I was unable to discover any more clear references for Walter L. Jackson in census, civil, or military records, so I don't know anything about his background. And though I found his school in reports of the Chicago Defender, a historic black newspaper in Chicago, this archive is locked behind a paywall which makes it unavailable to non-academic researchers like myself. 

I did determine that Walter L. Jackson began offering music lessons in Chicago in about 1911 and that he moved into a larger space, presumably the one in my photograph, in December 1912. I don't think he would have had time each week to give lessons to 72 musicians by himself. I suspect he either offered group classes or employed other music instructors for some instruments. Other Chicago newspapers in the 1920s reported that Prof. Jackson's students presented pleasing concerts or provided music for other organizations' events. The last listing in the Chicago city directory for W. L. Jackson's Music School was 1928. After that year his music business seems to have closed. My best guess is that this photo dates from 1920-22 when his school reportedly had 30 violinists, enough for a "student orchestra" that played for a Chicago fraternal society's charity event.

The music culture within the African-American community of Chicago has a long history. This photo is not unlike one I featured in my story from July 2012, The Columbia Concert Band, which dates from around 1936. In this era musical training was considered by both black and white families as an important part of a full education. Sadly, however, this is an example of how America's segregated society once divided people in music just as it did in other aspects of life. These black musicians might find opportunities to perform in their churches and fraternal organizations and even work as profession entertainers, but only so long as they were with other black musicians. Discrimination was the rule in the 1920s and it would be several more decades before bands and orchestras were integrated. 

Though I am unsure of the date of this photo, I feel certain it was taken only a few years after a tragic event in American history, the so-called "Chicago race riot" of 1919. It began on a hot July day at a Chicago beach on Lake Michigan when some Black teenagers on a small raft drifted into an informally-segregated white swimming area at a beach near 29th Street (about 2 miles east of Jackson's Music School on State Street.) Some white beachgoers became indignant, and one man began hurling rocks at the young Black men. A rock struck 17 year-old Eugene Williams and caused the teen to drown. 

Tensions at this unmarked and unofficial 'color line' quickly escalated between the white and Black sections of the beach. Hostility became more uncontrollable when a white police officer prevented a Black police officer from arresting the white man responsible for Williams' death, and instead arrested a Black man. Chicago neighborhoods were soon caught up in the melee as white gangs went into Black neighborhoods, and Black workers going to and from work were attacked. Chicago police failed to protect Black residents or arrest any white marauders. Peace was restored only after the Governor of Illinois deployed nearly 6,000 Illinois National Guard troops around the Black neighborhoods to prevent further white attacks. 

The 1919 Chicago riot lasted nearly a week, from 27 June to 3 August 1919, resulting in the deaths of 38 people (23 Black and 15 white) and 537 injured. Due to fires and vandalism between 1,000 and 2,000 Chicago residents, most of them Black, lost their homes. It is considered the worst civil disturbance during the "Red Summer" of 1919 when similar racial riots provoked by white racists broke out in several cities around the country. It was a time when hatred, bigotry, prejudice and violence consumed many innocent people and left a dreadful stain on America.

There is nothing in this photo of music students taking pride in their accomplishments to connect it to those infamous racial conflicts of 1919. But it is important to recognize that this single moment captured on film is part of a larger history of America's struggle with human rights and  civil justice which we are still trying to resolve a century later. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where school can be fun for some
or work for others.