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African American

Biography Boxes

After reading your assigned

biography, cut out your box

and place the following on the

six sides:

1. Your person’s name

2. A picture of him/her.

3. Where is he/she from?

What was their early life

like?

4. What is he/she best

known for?

5. What challenges or

struggles did he or she

face?

6. Your name and class

period.

Fold along

all the dotted

lines and

then put glue

on each of

the tabs to

create your

3D box.

Cut out the

entire box

along the

dark line.

Interview Project

Masks After reading your assigned biography, create

a mask by drawing your person’s face on the

circle above. Then, cut out the mask and be

prepared to talk and answer questions as if

you were that person.

Directions: After reading your biography, create a poster that best represents your person’s life and

accomplishments. Be sure to include visuals. These can be drawings, cut-out pictures, or a collage. Be

creative! You will then present this to the class.

4

Excellent

3

Good

2

Fair

1

Needs

Improvement

Delivery

• Holds attention of

the audience

throughout.

• Speaks with

fluctuation in volume

and inflection to

maintain audience

interest and

emphasize key points

• Holds most off the

audience’s attention,

but not all.

• Speaks with

satisfactory

variation of volume

and inflection

• Not very good at

holding the

audience’s attention

• Speaks in even

volume with little or

no inflection

• Speaks in low

volume and/or

monotonous tone,

which causes

audience to

disengage

Content

• Demonstrates

thorough knowledge

of the person’s life

• Provides clear and

pertinent facts, from

the person’s life

• Has somewhat

clear purpose and

understanding of the

person’s life.

Includes some

examples and facts

about the person;

• Attempts to define

key information

about the person, but

it is poorly defined

and includes many

irrelevant details.

• Does not have grasp

of the person and his

or her major

accomplishments

• Provides weak or no

support/ideas.

Enthusiasm

&

Creativity

• Demonstrates strong

enthusiasm about

person

• Significantly

increases audience

understanding and

knowledge of the

person’s life and

accomplishments.

• Shows some

enthusiastic

feelings about the

person

• Raises audience

understanding and

awareness of most

points about the

person’s life.

• Shows little or

mixed feelings

about the person

• Raises audience

understanding and

knowledge of some

points of the

person’s life.

• Shows no interest in

the person

• Fails to increase

audience

understanding of

knowledge of the

person’s life.

Teacher

Comments

© Students of History - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Students-Of-History

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Students-Of-History

Name ___________________________

Directions: After reading your biography, answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. Who was the subject of your biography? Briefly explain why he or she is famous.

2. Did you know anything about this person before reading this biography? What new things did you

learn?

3. How did this person demonstrate perseverance?

4. What are some character traits this person possesses that you admire & why?

5. In what way is this person a role model for people today?



Any number of historic moments in the civil rights struggle have been

used to identify Martin Luther King, Jr. — prime mover of the

Montgomery bus boycott, keynote speaker at the March on

Washington, youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. But in retrospect,

single events are less important than the fact that King, and his policy

of nonviolent protest, was the dominant force in the civil rights

movement during its decade of greatest achievement, from 1957 to

1968. A national hero and a civil-rights figure of growing importance, Dr.

King summoned together a number of black leaders in 1957 and laid

the groundwork for the organization now known as the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King was elected its

president, and he soon began helping other communities organize their

own protests against discrimination.

Three years later, Dr. King's nonviolent tactics were put to their most

severe test in Birmingham, during a mass protest for fair hiring

practices and the desegregation of department-store facilities. Police

brutality used against the marchers dramatized the plight of blacks to the

nation at large, with enormous impact. King was arrested, but his voice

was not silenced: He wrote the eloquent and moving “Letter from a

Birmingham Jail” to refute his critics.

Death came for Dr. King on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the black-

owned Lorraine Hotel just off Beale Street in Memphis, TN. While

standing outside with Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy, King was

shot in the neck by a rifle bullet. His death caused a wave of violence in

major cities across the country.

“The aftermath of nonviolence

is the creation of a beloved

community, while the

aftermath of violence is tragic

bitterness.”




Just as the civil rights movement of

the 1960s was achieving its greatest

successes, militant blacks were

increasingly questioning its very

premises–that integration was a good

thing, that whites and blacks had

interests in common, and that whites

were able to speak for blacks. Among

those challenging these beliefs. few

were more vocal than Stokely

Carmichael.

Carmichael had been engaged in voter

registration drives, freedom rides, and

organizing strategies for civil rights

since 1960, but had come to question

the more traditional civil rights

groups’ policy of nonviolence and to

favor a black political party that

would not need the help of whites.

From Trinidad at the age of 11, Carmichael left with his family for New York City. His parents encouraged him

to succeed by excelling in school and, in 1956; he won admission to the selective Bronx High School of

Science. In 1960, while attending Howard University, he joined a group affiliated with the student-led Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). While participating in the civil rights movement, Carmichael also

continued his academic studies, graduating from Howard in 1964, with a degree in philosophy.

After leaving college, Carmichael became a field secretary for SNCC, and worked in the

campaign to register blacks in Mississippi to vote. In 1965 Carmichael moved to

Alabama to work in the voting rights campaign and helped organize the Lowndes

County Freedom Organization (LCFO). It became known as the Black Panther Party.

His success in attracting black support for the LCFO led to his election as

chairperson of SNCC. In February 1968 Carmichael became Prime

Minister of the Black Panther Party that had been organized in Oakland,

California.

Carmichael began to disagree with some Black Panther members and he

resigned from the Black Panther Party in 1969. He became a proponent

of Pan-Africanism, the belief that African people throughout the world

should unite.




“Our problem is

not an American

problem, it's a

human problem.

It's not a Negro

problem, it's a

problem of

humanity. It's not a

problem of civil

rights, but a

problem of

humanity.”

Malcolm X was assassinated in Manhattan's

Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965.

Born Malcolm Little, he discarded his last

name, because he felt it was a “slave” name

handed to his great grandfather by his white

owner. Unlike Martin Luther King, Malcolm

X wanted blacks to not only stand up for

their rights, but also to demand a separate

country for themselves.

Malcolm X thought King’s integration and

assimilation policy smacked of low self-

esteem and Malcolm X held the conviction

that white America would never include

blacks in their midst. His viewpoint,

language and bravado made him a

formidable force in the black struggle against

racism and segregation. Despite allegations, he never advocated terrorism or violence, and while he held

questionable views for many years, he displayed an ability to learn from experience and changing

circumstances. Admired and feared, revered and loathed, Malcolm X always elicited a strong reaction.

Eventually, turning from Christianity while in jail, Malcolm joined the Nation of

Islam, headed by Stokely Carmichael and became a member of the Black

Muslims. He later set up a new organization, which he called the Muslim

Mosque, Inc. and set about preaching his later ideals, which won Malcolm many

new friends.

Later, however, Malcom X began receiving death threats and even though there

was no proof, Malcolm suspected that they came from the Nation of Islam. A

bomb on February 14, 1965 destroyed his house but his family managed to

escape unhurt. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky the following week when

making a speech at Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom. Three armed gunman came

right through the crowds and riddled Malcolm X with bullets, killing him on the

spot.

“I am not a racist. I am against every form

of racism and segregation, every form of

discrimination. I believe in human beings,

and that all human beings should be

respected as such, regardless of their color.”




“In recognizing

the humanity of

our fellow

beings, we pay

ourselves the

highest tribute.”

Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Thurgood

Marshall was the grandson of a slave. In 1930, he applied to

the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied

admission because he was Black. This was an event that was

to haunt him and direct his future professional life.

Eventually, Marshall enrolled in the all-black Howard

University, where he went on to study law and become a

distinguished lawyer.

In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge

Marshall to the office of U.S. Solicitor General. Before his

subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court

in 1967, Thurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he

argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the

government. Indeed, Thurgood Marshall represented and

won more cases before the United States Supreme Court

than any other American.

It was Marshall who ended legal segregation in the United

States. He won Supreme Court victories breaking the color

line in housing, transportation and voting, all of which

overturned the 'Separate-but-Equal' apartheid of American

life in the first half of the century.

It was Marshall who won the most important legal case of

the century, Brown v. Board of Education, ending the legal separation of black and white children in public

schools. The success of the Brown case sparked the 1960s civil rights

movement, led to the increased number of black high school and college

graduates and the incredible rise of the black middle-class in both number

and power in the country.




“I don't think that I

or any other Negro,

as an American

citizen, should have

to ask for anything

that is rightfully his.

We are demanding

that we just be

given the things that

are rightfully ours

and that we're not

looking for

anything else.”

They say certain people are bigger than life, but Jackie Robinson is

the only man I've known who truly was. In 1947 life in America —

at least my America, and Jackie's — was segregation. It was two

worlds that were afraid of each other. There were separate schools

for blacks and whites, separate restaurants, separate hotels,

separate drinking fountains and separate baseball leagues. Life was

unkind to black people who tried to bring those worlds together. It

could be hateful. But Jackie Robinson, God bless him, was bigger

than all of that.

Jackie Robinson had to be bigger than life. He had to be bigger

than the Brooklyn teammates who got up a petition to keep him off

the ball club, bigger than the

pitchers who threw at him

or the base runners who

dug their spikes into his

shin, bigger than the

bench jockeys who

hollered for him to carry

their bags and shine their

shoes, bigger than the so-

called fans who mocked him with mops on their heads and wrote him

death threats.

Jackie Robinson burst onto the scene in 1947, breaking baseball's color

barrier and bringing the Negro leagues' electrifying style of play to the

majors. He quickly became baseball's top drawing card and a symbol

of hope to millions of Americans. With Robinson as the catalyst, the

Dodgers won six pennants in his 10 seasons.

Robinson dominated games on the base paths, stealing home 19 times

while riling opposing pitchers with his daring base-running style.

Robinson was named National League MVP in 1949, leading the loop

in hitting (.342) and steals (37), while knocking in 124 runs.




“I would like to

be remembered

as a person who

wanted to be

free... so other

people would be

also free.”

The United States Congress called Rosa Parks “the first

lady of civil rights” and “mother of the freedom

movement” because her bravery helped to begin a

movement to help improve the lives of many Americans.

Segregation was common across the South in 1955, which

kept blacks and whites separated in all parts of society. On

city buses, blacks were required to sit in the back while

whites sat in the front rows. On December 1, 1955, in

Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey the bus

driver’s order that she give up her seat to a white

passenger, after the white section was filled.

When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer

arrested her. As the officer took her away, she asked,

“Why do you push us around?” She remembered him

saying, “I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're

under arrest.”

Parks said that she was “tired of giving in”. Her stance led

local churches and the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to organize a

boycott of the city’s

buses until they ended

racial segregation. A

boycott meant they

tried to get people to refuse to ride the bus to hopefully convince the bus

system to change.

Many important civil rights leaders helped in the boycott, including Martin

Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. The boycott lasted for over a year,

until a Supreme Court decision declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws

requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional.

The city then passed a law allowing black bus passengers to sit anywhere

they chose on buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott had effects far beyond

the desegregation of public buses. It encouraged participation in the civil

rights movement and gave both Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King national attention as leaders in the

movement for equality.




Billie Holiday is considered by many to be the

greatest of all jazz singers. In a tragically

abbreviated singing career that lasted less than

three decades, her phrasing and delivery

profoundly influenced vocalists who followed

her. Holiday performed mostly popular material,

communicating deep emotion by stripping down

rather than dressing up words and lines.

Holiday's life was a study in hardship. Her

parents married when she was three, but her

musician father was seldom present and the

couple soon divorced. Receiving little schooling

as a child, Holiday scrubbed floors for a nightclub

so she could listen to her idols Louis Armstrong

and Bessie Smith on their record player.

Determined to find work as a dancer or singer in

Harlem, Holiday moved to New York City in

1928 and landed her first job at Jerry Preston's

Log Cabin, where her vocals moved customers to

tears. Discovered in another Harlem club by a

jazz record producer in 1932, she made her first recording a year later with Benny Goodman's orchestra.

Holiday went on to become one of the first black vocalists to be featured with a white ban. Life on the road

proved bitter for the singer, though; racial segregation made simple things like eating, sleeping, and going to the

bathroom difficult. Fed up when she could not enter one hotel through the front door with the rest of the

orchestra, Holiday abandoned touring, returning to New York as a solo artist.

Holiday recorded “Strange Fruit,” a controversial song about southern lynchings, for in 1939. It became a

favorite of the interracial crowd for whom she performed. Holiday began to attract a popular following and

indulged her taste for slow, melancholy songs about love gone bad.

When Holliday died in 1959 at the age of 44, Frank Sinatra acknowledged her as “unquestionably the most

important influence on American popular singing in the last 20 years.”




“The world does

not know that a

race is great until

that race produces

great literature.

No race that

produced a good

literature has ever

been looked upon

by the world as

distinctly

inferior.”

James Weldon Johnson was a gifted and hard-working man who

turned his hand to many different careers and succeeded in all of

them. Born to a relatively well-to-do African-American family in

1871, he traveled extensively, became one of the best known and

most widely admired race leaders of his era, and worked as a

teacher, lawyer, songwriter, diplomat, journalist, editor, and

organizer.

Johnson grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where his mother

taught him literature and music. He was privileged by

comparison with most of his black contemporaries, and moved to

Atlanta for high school and college because there was no high

school for African-American children in Jacksonville.

Like Booker T. Washington, Johnson believed that it was

necessary to work within the segregation system and that self-

help and hard work were the best avenues for advancement. That

was the theme of many editorials in the Daily American, a

newspaper he founded in 1895.

While running a school in Florida, Johnson was studying law in

the evenings and on weekends, and in 1897 he became the first African-American to pass the bar in his county.

The Great Fire of Jacksonville burned down the Stanton School in 1901 and Johnson moved to New York,

where he became involved in local politics and, in 1904, won appointment as treasurer of the Colored

Republican Club. He helped President Theodore Roosevelt win re-election in 1904 by writing the catchy

campaign song “You're All Right, Teddy.”

Johnson later took the civil service exam and was given a succession of

diplomatic posts, first as American consul in Venezuela and again in

Nicaragua. The election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson as president spelled

the end of his career as a Republican appointee and he resigned in 1913.

Johnson joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People (NAACP), of which W.E.B. Du Bois was a founding member. He

toured the south to investigate lynchings and race riots and encouraged local

black leaders to create new branches of the organization. In 1920, he became

the NAACP’s secretary and held the post for the next 10 years, during which

the Harlem Renaissance marked a new African-American vitality in theater,

poetry, and the arts, and a marked change toward urbanization. Johnson wrote

several works of fiction, poetry, and an acclaimed autobiography.

Johnson’s life had spanned one of the worst periods of racial repression in

American history but he was still able to carve out a distinguished career as a

writer, journalist, teacher, diplomat, and association leader, leaving a lasting

legacy that had a large impact on improving the lives of African-Americans.

''If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!''

Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 where he

enjoyed a pleasant childhood.. He was exposed to classical

literature and spent long hours reading William Shakespeare

and Charles Dickens and began to develop his own skills as

a writer and poet.

In 1913, McKay came to America to study agriculture at

Tuskegee Institute and at Kansas State University, but his

interest in poetry induced him to move to New York City.

He dedicated his life to writing verse that promoted spiritual

freedom and humanitarian social and political values.

Tormented by the discrimination of African Americans, he

vented his feelings of frustration through poetry and served

as a voice for awakening the masses to the devastating

effects of racism in a white-dominated society. Although he

is best known for his militantly angry poetic style, McKay

produced a vast number of writings that helped lay the

foundation for the emergence of modern African American

literature.

In reaction to the wave of racial violence and the U.S.

government's suppressive actions against domestic

radicalism during the “Red Scare” of 1919, McKay wrote

the powerful poem “If We Must Die.” It is a bitter yet

profound poem calling for a universal movement against oppression--one that embodied such a passionate

message that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill quoted from it in a speech during World War II. The

poem earned McKay national recognition as one of America's most talented new black poetic voices.

He eventually wrote four novels, two autobiographies, and collections of poetry and short stories. For McKay,

art was never a means of escape, but a way to confront the world and to expose the true nature of the human

spirit. His poetry connects the black artist’s struggle with the struggles of all humanity. An elder member of the

Harlem Renaissance, McKay led the way for the emergence of a modern African American literary tradition

that includes such writers as Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin. McKay's

work is representative of the black artist’s struggle to gain recognition in the western world. Like so many other

artistic geniuses who lived

their lives as outsiders,

McKay remained a poet in the

modern age, a visionary

devoted to awakening the

minds and spirits of all

humanity.




Duke Ellington was a distinctive and pivotal figure in

the world of jazz. A prolific composer, Ellington

created over 2,000 pieces of music, including the

standard songs “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t

Got That Swing)” and “Sophisticated Lady.” With

the bands he led for more than 50 years, Ellington

was responsible for many innovations in the jazz

field, such the manipulation of the human voice as an

instrument--singing notes without words.

During the course of his long career, Ellington was

showered with many honors, including the highest

civilian award granted by the United States, the

Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented

to him by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969.

Born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington,

D.C., on April 29, 1899, “Duke” earned his nickname

at an early age to suit his aristocratic demeanor. He

was brought up in a cultured, middle-class household

and learned to love and play music.

He moved to New York City in the 1920’s at a time

when attitudes and values were changing in America.

The Harlem Renaissance--a period of heightened

pride, interest, and activity in black arts and culture--was beginning to dawn.

Ellington eventually came to lead the best-known jazz orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Several members of

the orchestra remained members for several decades. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78

rpm record format, Ellington often composed specifically for the style and skills of his individual musicians.

He remained an active performer and composer until his death from lung cancer on May 24, 1974, in New York

City. His compositions such as “Mood Indigo” and “In a Sentimental Mood” remain jazz standards more than

half a century after their introduction. Gunther Schuller wrote in 1989: “Ellington composed incessantly to the

very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was

incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet

one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time.”




Paul Robeson--civil rights activist, singer, actor, law school

graduate, athlete, scholar, and author--was one of the most

well-known and most widely respected black Americans of

the 1930s and 1940s. He learned to speak more than 20

languages in order to break down the barriers of race and

ignorance throughout the world. However, his political

views late in life led him to be called “an American

tragedy” by Martin Baulm Duberman, in his 1989

biography.

Robeson was born in New Jersey in 1898. He won an

academic scholarship to Rutgers University, where he

became a football All-American and the class valedictorian.

He then attended Columbia Law School while playing

professional football in the NFL. At Columbia, he sang and

acted in off-campus productions and, after graduating,

preformed in new York City and became a participant in the

Harlem Renaissance.

Robeson appeared as Othello at the Savoy Theatre before

becoming an international cinematic star through roles in

Show Boat and Sanders of the River. He became

increasingly attuned toward the sufferings of other cultures

and peoples. Acting against advice, which warned of his

economic ruin if he became politically active, he set aside

his theatrical career to advocate the cause of the Republican

forces of the Spanish Civil War.

During World War II, he supported America's war efforts and won accolades for his portrayal of Othello on

Broadway. However, his history of supporting pro-Soviet policies brought scrutiny from the FBI. After the war

ended, Robeson was investigated for ties to communism during the age of McCarthyism. Due to his decision

not to recant his public advocacy of pro-Soviet policies, he was denied a passport by the U.S. State Department,

and his income, consequently, plummeted. Robeson's popularity soon plummeted in response to his increasing

rhetoric. A violent riot prevented his appearing at a concert in Peekskill, New York, after he had urged black

youths not to fight if the United States went to war against the Soviet Union.

Robeson stated his desire was never to leave the United States, just to change, as he believed, the racist attitude

of its people. During the infamous McCarthy hearings, when questioned by a Congressional committee member

about why he didn't stay in the Soviet Union, he replied, “Because my father was a slave, and my people died to

build this country, and I am going to stay right here and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded

people will drive me from it. Is that clear?”

During his life, Paul Robeson had thrilled thousands with his athletic achievements on the football field, had

entertained thousands with his artistic presence on the stage and screen, and had inspired thousands with his

voice raised in speech and song. However, his support for communism and Stalin led him to live in sadness and

loneliness. Slowly deteriorating and living in reclusiveness during the 1960s and 1970s, Robeson died after

suffering a stroke in 1976.

“Sometimes, I feel

discriminated

against, but it does

not make me angry.

It merely astonishes

me. How can any

deny themselves the

pleasure of my

company? It’s

beyond me.”

Zora Neale Hurston managed to avoid many of the restraints placed

upon women and black artists by American society during the first

half of the twentieth century. She became the most published black

female author in her time and arguably the most important collector

of African-American folklore ever. Hurston was a complex artist

whose persona ranged from charming and outrageous to fragile and

inconsistent, but she always remained a driven and brilliant talent.

One of eight children, Hurston was born in Eatonville, Florida - the

first self-governed, all-black city in America. Hurston was only nine

when her mother died. It was a traumatic experience, one that strained

the relationship between her and her father. Two weeks after her

mother's death she was sent off to school in Jacksonville, Florida; her

father quickly remarried. Hurston despised her stepmother and

became even more estranged from her father, who reacted by

requesting--unsuccessfully--that the school adopt his daughter.

By the age of 14, Hurston was on her own. She was hired as the

personal maid to a cast member of a traveling Gilbert and Sullivan

troupe. The actors welcomed her into their family, and the 18 months

she spent with them would be among her fondest memories.

In 1918, she enrolled at Howard University where she excelled as a writer. Soon after graduating, a story of hers

won 2nd

place for a National Urban League contest. That year she moved to New York City, began a job as a

personal assistant to famed novelist Fannie Hurst, and entered Barnard College on scholarship as its first and

only black student. It was in New York City that Hurston bloomed, however, and she was dubbed the Queen of

the Harlem Renaissance.

Hurston travelled across the South to document stories of black culture.

Hurston’s masterpiece, and the book she is most identified with,

however is her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. It is the story of

a young black woman, Janie, following her through three very different

relationships and her transformation into a self-sufficient, whole human

being. In the novel Janie learns that there are “two things everybody’s

got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh

find about livin' fuh theyselves.” It is a novel of affirmation.

The author of seven books and more than 50 articles and short stories, a

playwright and traveler, and an anthropologist and folklorist, the

“Queen of the Renaissance” died quietly in a welfare home on January

28, 1960. In 1973 Alice Walker made a pilgrimage to Fort Pierce and

placed a tombstone on the site she guessed to be Hurston's unmarked

grave. The stone was inscribed: “Zora Neale Hurston, A Genius of the

South.”




“There is

two kinds

of music,

the good,

and the

bad. I play

the good

kind.”

Born in New Orleans in 1901, Louis Armstrong was

one of the most influential and durable of all jazz

artists and one of the most famous entertainers in the

entire world.

He grew up in a poor black neighborhood in New

Orleans and his parents separated when he was five.

His poverty has been described as a key factor in the

discovery of his affinity for music, however, for he

sang in the streets for pennies as a child. When

Armstrong was 13, he fired a pistol into the air to

celebrate New Year's Eve and was punished by

authorities by being sent to the Negro Waif's Home.

This incident proved somewhat providential: the

home had a bandmaster who took an interest in the

youth and taught him to play the bugle. By the time

of his release from the facility, Armstrong had graduated to the cornet and knew how to read music.

Armstrong played in various clubs around New Orleans before moving to Chicago in 1922 with his friend King

Oliver. Their duets soon became the talk of the Chicago music world. He later moved to New York during the

Harlem Renaissance scored his first triumph with a popular song “Ain't Misbehavin'.” This success was a

turning point in his career. He now began to front big bands, playing and singing popular songs rather than

blues or original instrumentals.

From 1933 to 1935 he toured Europe, returning to the United States to film Pennies

from Heaven with Bing Crosby. He continued to evolve from the status of musician

to that of entertainer, and his singing soon became as important as his playing. In

1947, he formed a small group, which was an immediate success. He continued to

work in this context, touring throughout the world.

Armstrong scored a tremendous success in 1964 with his recording of “Hello

Dolly,” which bounced the Beatles from the top spot on the Top 40 list, a great feat

in the age of rock. Though his health began to decline, he kept up his heavy schedule

of international touring, and when he died in his sleep at home in Corona, Queens,

two days after his 70th birthday, he had been preparing to resume work in spite of a

serious heart attack suffered some three months before.

Louis Armstrong is frequently regarded by critics as the greatest jazz performer ever.




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