Description: Original description reads: "Federal Music Project. Negro Dance Orchestra performing on the terrace in front of Union Station, Cincinnati, Ohio." The Federal Music Project (FMP), part of the Federal government of the United States New Deal program Federal Project No. 1, employed musicians, conductors and composers during the Great Depression. People in the music world had been particularly hard-hit by the era's economic downturn. In addition to performing thousands of concerts, offering music classes, organizing the Composers Forum Laboratory, hosting music festivals and creating 34 new orchestras, employees of the FMP researched American traditional music and folk songs, a practice now called ethnomusicology. In the latter domain the Federal Music Project did notable studies on cowboy, Creole and "Negro" music. The FMP's director—for the majority of its brief life—was Nikolai Sokoloff. During the Great Depression, many people visited these symphonies to forget about the economic hardship of the time. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F11_003_1
Subjects: Music--Performance; African Americans--Music; Dance orchestras; Federal Music Project (U.S.); Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Wings Over Jordan Choir performing at a radio station, ca. 1935-1950. Rev. Glenn T. Settle, seated in front on the left, founded the choir in 1935, and was the narrator of the choir's weekly radio performance. Reg Merridan, seated on the right, was the radio announcer for WGAR in Cleveland, which aired "Negro Hour" every week. Standing before the choir is Hattye Easley, the assistant conductor. The group was the first professional African American choir in the country. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02702
Subjects: African Americans--Ohio; Music; Multicultural Ohio--Religion in Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)