Music & Musical Instruments

These mallets were made by an unknown maker, provenance unknown, late 1950s. They are carved wooden sticks, with small cylindrical heads covered in cross-woven reed soaked in glue or resin.

Jeni LeGon (born Jennie Ligon, 1916– 2012), also credited as Jeni Le Gon, was an American dancer, dance instructor, and actress. She was one of the first African-American women to establish a solo career in tap dance. In 1999, the National Film Board of Canada released a documentary film about her life, Jeni Le Gon: Living in a Great Big Way, directed by Grant Greshuk and produced by Selwyn Jacob.

This bust of American composer and musician Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899 - 1974) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1988. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Ellington in a suit and bowtie, arms in a conducting pose, atop a stylized keyboard.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.

This vibraphone, used by Lionel Hampton, was made by Musser in Elkhardt, Indiana, around 1980. It is a three-octave, M75 Century model, with gold finished bars, gold lacquered resonators, and covered wood end panels.

American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader Lionel Leo Hampton (1908 - 2002) began his music career playing drums and took up the vibraphone in the late 1920s. After stints with Louis Armstrong, Nat Shilkret and his Orchestra, and the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Hampton formed his own orchestra in the early 1940s and would lead various incarnations of his group well into the late 1980s. Hampton donated this vibraphone to the Smithsonian in 2001 shortly before his death.

Mary Jane-style red leather tap shoes worn by dancer Dr. Jeni LeGon in the Twentieth-Century Fox film Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937). Holes in the toe plates to enable the dancer to stand on a nail embedded in the stage set floor to keep balance during a comedy dance scene requiring the dancer to lean as far forward close to the floor as possible.

LeGon was the first African American actor to sign a contract with a major Hollywood company. Ali Baba Goes to Town was nominated for an Oscar in Best Dance Direction.

Jeni LeGon (born Jennie Ligon, 1916– 2012), also credited as Jeni Le Gon, was an American dancer, dance instructor, and actress. She was one of the first African-American women to establish a solo career in tap dance. In 1999, the National Film Board of Canada released a documentary film about her life, Jeni Le Gon: Living in a Great Big Way, directed by Grant Greshuk and produced by Selwyn Jacob.

Diorama depicting the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, based on a painting by Edmund Havel, 1873. Made of wood and paper applied to plexiglass box with electrical low-voltage lights affixed to the side panels. Seven female figures and four male figures made of porcelain with cotton or synthetic lower torso. The diorama includes a grand piano and bench, two chairs, and a settee, all in miniature, made from painted wood and fabric. The women's clothing is made from silk taffeta and the men's clothing from wool. Made by Diedra Bell, Washington, D.C., assisted by Stephney Keyser, Falls Church, Virginia, 1994-1998.

From the nation’s beginning, Americans have grappled with who gets educated and who pays for education. Both public and private schools have relied on a combination of public and private funding. Disparities in wealth and political influence have affected Americans’ ability to support schools. As a result, educational philanthropy has reflected inequalities in the American economy and society. Giving through contributions of time and money have both created opportunities for students and increased inequalities among them.

Barred from schools for white children due to racist practices, African Americans in the late 1800s established and supported a wide variety of educational institutions of their own. In the 1870s the Fisk University Jubilee Singers began touring the United States and Europe to raise money for the African American school. Familiarizing white audiences with black spirituals, the group also advocated for African American rights and independence.

This sheet music is for the song, “Little Alabama Coon,” with words and music by Hattie Starr. It was published by Willie Woodward and Co. in New York, New York in 1893. The cover features an inset image of actress Miss Franke M. Raymond.

“Little Alabama Coon” was featured in David Henderson’s American Extravaganza production of Aladdin, Jr.

This drum was made by an unknown maker, provenance unknown, late 1950s. It is a Steel Drum or Steelpan, made from a 55-gallon oil drum, with a red painted shell. Curved indentations in the top of steelpan make different musical notes when struck. Each indentation is highlighted in yellow paint with indication of which note of the musical scale it will play when struck. Hand painted and used by Jeni LeGon in the traveling show with her dance troupe, "Jazz Caribe," 1959-1969. Painted on the shell:

JENI

(embossed on label maker tape):

JENI LEGON'S JAZZ CARIBE

Jeni LeGon (born Jennie Ligon, 1916– 2012), also credited as Jeni Le Gon, was an American dancer, dance instructor, and actress. She was one of the first African-American women to establish a solo career in tap dance. In 1999, the National Film Board of Canada released a documentary film about her life, Jeni Le Gon: Living in a Great Big Way, directed by Grant Greshuk and produced by Selwyn Jacob.