In 2000, Thayer Dietrich, a member of the Rhode Island LGBT Pride Committee, suggested a performance to raise funds for Pride events while showcasing the talents of local Lesbian musicians. Mary Ann Rossoni, a musician herself, joined the efforts and together they produced the first Goddess Show at the Avon Cinema in Providence. At this sit-down event, the audience of 200 (predominantly Lesbians) enjoyed the sounds of Lesbian solo and group acts singing in a variety of genres. Some songs were original pieces by the musicians themselves. The Goddess Show proved successful both in fundraising and in elevating the visibility of Lesbian artists within the Lesbian community.

In those days, for many, it was still too threatening to be out due to professional, family, and other community concerns. The performers were not ashamed of being Lesbian but worried about the repercussions. In the initial show, only Mary Ann Rossoni and Laura Berkson were formally out as Lesbians. The Goddess Show gave an opportunity for closeted Lesbians to safely perform. More importantly, their music could be heard and appreciated. They initially volunteered their performances, though Mary Ann, who believed musicians should always be paid for working, did insist they receive small stipends.

The Goddess Show offered a rare and unique opportunity for both Lesbian performers and audiences. While many of the event’s performers remained “closeted” for some years, the Goddess Show created a much-needed space for Lesbians to perform and for women to be together in a welcoming women-centered space. Generally, the musicians did not perform music with strong Lesbian themes, but there definitely were undertones of women’s love for each other.

Lesbian musicians, especially if they were out, had limited opportunity to establish broader audiences. Generally, they were underrepresented in most music venues. This was true even for most LGBTQ Pride events as well. Ironically, though these women would have “their night” at the Goddess Show and raised significant (and much needed) funds for Pride events, they weren’t usually invited to perform on the main stages at RI Pride events (a few were, sure, but those performances were generally very limited).

Andy Smith, a writer for the Providence Journal, interviewed Mary Ann about the event in 2001. Unfortunately, the headline read something like “a Rhode Island Pride event.” So, several residents of RI, not really aware of the meaning of Pride, mistakenly thought the show was music about proudly living in Rhode Island. What a shock for them when they entered a room filled with 200 Lesbians and heard the sounds of women musicians not really singing about Rhode Island!

Mary Ann Rossoni planned and organized the Goddess Show for nearly 13 years. She set up the musicians, created the schedule, and generally kept things moving while a crew of volunteers would assist with many other tasks. Over time, The Goddess Show shifted from a sit-down event into a more “club” type atmosphere (for example, at the Hi-Hat Club at Providence’s Davol Square). As more people got involved, the acts started to include a broader array of performers. The annual Goddess Shows continues today at Askew Bar and Lounge, though the focus has changed and it no longer highlights or includes only Lesbian performers.

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As reported in an 1854 Harper's Monthly piece, the Germania Musical Society was likely the "band" who played at Fort Adams one afternoon when the Fort was "turned into a Hyde Park" with "Horsemen and chariots" parading to the music. The scene depicted by Harper's was idyllic: "The lovely ladies…smile and bow. The ribbons flutter, the gloves glisten. The air is soft, the band plays pleasantly; over all shines the summer sun."

Undoubtedly, music and dancing were main attractions in Newport as it emerged throughout the 19th century to become a world-class resort destination. This impactful feature of the summer experience extended from Bellevue Avenue all the way to the tip of the island at Fort Adams. Opened in 1799 to function as a coastal defense site, Fort Adams also became a place where people gathered to celebrate the natural beauty of their surroundings, oftentimes with music.

An article from the Newport Mercury on July 25, 1857 mentions a reunion of the Germania under the direction of William Schultze, including a performance at Fort Adams which commenced their season. Later that summer, the Mercury added, "On Monday closed the drives to the Fort…the fashion of driving to the Fort on stated days to hear the music of the Germanians is at an end." By 1857, both Newport's "hotel period," and with it the era of Germania Musical Society performances, was coming to a close.

The boom and decline of Newport's "hotel period" and the Germania's heyday took place 100 years prior to the more contemporary summer celebrations that Fort Adams is now famous for. As if the Newport Mercury foretold this story, the paper stated in 1857: "…the crowds thronged there on pleasant days out-numbered the gathering at any other point on the island. The distance from town is about the right one for such a drive, the parade ground is admirably adapted to the purpose, and the music in itself was an attractive feature."

With the rise of Newport's renowned music festivals and cultural events during the 20th century (many of which take place at Fort Adams), the legacy of the Germania Musical Society and the central role of music in Newport's summer experience continues today.

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In the summer of 1857, preceding the trend-setting Astors and Belmonts, and epitomizing the transition to a more private and exclusive Newport, William Wetmore (former China-trade magnate) threw a big party for his good friend, the financier, George Peabody. Over 2,500 people attended the afternoon "Fête Champêtre" (garden party) at Chateau-sur-Mer. Attendees ate, danced, and drank hundreds of magnums of champagne. The Newport Mercury reported, "it was unquestionably the event of the summer." It could be argued that this event also helped set the tone for the extravagant Gilded Age entertainments to come. As notable Newport resident and Pulitzer-prize winning author Maud Howe Elliott (daughter of Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic) once remarked, "Some of these gorgeous fetes have cost a sum that would support and educate a professor's family for a lifetime."

A curious offshoot of the Germania Musical Society, who were actually broken up by this time, provided the music. A program card with the order of dances coupled with a New York Times article verify that the music was indeed "furnished" and conducted by a former Germania member, William Schultze. Schultze was the Germania's first violinist, but was probably never an officially elected conductor, although he may have served in a leading role in the interim before Carl Bergmann. At the event, the Germania's former manager F.B. Helmsmuller served as Master of Ceremonies.

The Times reported that a "pavillion" was built by a carpenter from Boston using over 30,000 feet of lumber, "for the purpose of a dancing saloon in the rear of the house." The reporter added with effect: "This superb pavillion was a hundred feet square; it was covered with canvas, and the floor was admirably laid for dancing." The article mistakenly referred to the ensemble as the (official) Germania Musical Society, but at the very least, several former members were most likely involved.

Compositions included many by the famous Strauss and former Germania members, including "Annie Polka Redowa" by Schultze himself, and some of Bergmann's dance tunes. It was reported that the party went past schedule as, "dancing was kept up with great glee until nearly eight o'clock, when the gay and festive scene was deserted, and the dash of the waves at the base of the rocky cliff succeeded the music of the fete."

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In 1828, the Bellevue House on Catherine Street made a splash as the first genuine resort hotel in Newport, helping to shape a burgeoning culture that would soon propel a new economic boom for the city.

During the magical summers of the late 1840s and 1850s, newspapers described the music scene in Newport in glowing terms, with the Germania Musical Society situated clearly at the center of the experience. On July 30th 1853, during the height of the "hotel period," the Germania gave a full ensemble concert at the Bellevue House that required the cancellation of music at both the Ocean and Atlantic House Hotels for the evening. The advertisement in the Newport Daily News referred to it as, "A Grand Instrumental Concert to be rendered in the form of a Symphony Soiree." It was anticipated to be, "one of the most brilliant gatherings of the season." The concert included Mozart's Grand Symphony in G, Mendelssohn's Nocturne for A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Wagner's finale to the opera Tannhauser.

The same year, the New York Daily Times reported that the Germania and acclaimed pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk (who was visiting Newport) performed at a benefit concert for New Orleans at the Bellevue House. At the time, New Orleans was in the midst of a yellow fever epidemic. The reporter praised the Germania for volunteering their efforts and forgoing their customary, "grand concert, from which they derive the principal portion of their Summer revenue." The owner of the Ocean House, John G. Weaver, donated his share of the ensemble for the sake of the benefit.

Although Gottschalk and the Germania both performed throughout the evening, it is unclear if they actually performed together. Nevertheless, one can very well imagine such a treat, especially on the dance tunes, with Gottschalk rounding out the Germania's already exceptional ensemble sound with his piano talents. Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream was highlighted that night as well as an excerpt of a Beethoven symphony. A follow-up piece in the Newport Daily News deemed the event a "brilliant affair," as "Gottschalk and the Germanians never performed better…their efforts called forth thunders of applause."

The same article mentions that the event was so crowded with "beautiful ladies" and "men of distinction" that "many were unable to obtain admission."

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In his memoir, the Germania Musical Society's Henry Albrecht painted an interesting picture of the ensemble's relationship to Newport during the "hotel period," stating: "the magical effect of the sounds of the orchestra aroused not very solemn thoughts in the breasts of art-loving ladies, affections more than on the level of Platonic friendship." He added that their concerts "brought to the fore the reality of the words that 'Music is the language of the heart.'" Such memories included pleasurable and cozy evenings at the Ocean House.

When the original Ocean House opened on Bellevue and East Bowery in 1844, it instantly rivaled the most luxurious European hotels. The Ocean House offered summer visitors topnotch accommodations, fine-dining, and a variety of attractions. A Newport Mercury article in 1884 reminisced about "Old Time Newport" highlighting the new Ocean House and the hundreds of people assembling daily and nightly to the music of the "celebrated Germania Band."

Although the original Ocean House burned down one year after its opening, a larger and grander replacement was ready for the summer season of 1846 to host masquerade balls, cotillions, and Saturday night dances known as "hops." At the time, fashionable dances like the polka, redowa, and cotillion were all the rage: "morning noon and night the whirl went on."

In 1850, following their very successful first summer in Newport, the Germania helped close out the season with a "Fancy Ball" at the Ocean House. The Germania opened the ball with a late-evening march, dinner was served at midnight, and dancing continued through sunrise the next morning. Germania conductor Carl Bergmann's composition "Fancy Ball Polka Redowa" was published the following year. The mazurka-like redowa, featuring a Czech dance rhythm, was new to the States at that time.

To be sure, the scene at the Ocean House on dance nights was effervescent as mellifluous music drifted through the hotel's alcoves and corridors while guests promenaded around the grounds with glee. Despite a number of other hotels opening in Newport over the following two decades, the highest praise was usually reserved for John G. Weaver's Ocean House. Summer visitors considered it the embodiment of the elegance, beauty, and style of American summer society.

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The Newport Mercury announced a "Grand Instrumental Concert" to be given by the full Germania Musical Society ensemble on July 16, 1849 at the grand hall of the Atlantic House. Tickets were fifty cents. Doors opened at 7:30pm. The concert began at 8:30pm. In his newspaper abstracts, Newport Historian Lloyd Robson described this Newport Mercury article as the first public notice of the German musicians on the island. As with the other major hotels in Newport, the Germania soon became central to the Atlantic House experience.

The Atlantic House opened in 1845 on Bellevue Avenue and Pelham Street and was instrumental to Newport's economic boom during the period. The Atlantic featured Greek Revival design elements, including a glistening white veranda that wrapped around three of its sides. The hotel stood four stories high and could accommodate 250 summer guests. The Atlantic House was known for its topnotch amusements and featured dances and balls on a regular basis. Harper's New Monthly Magazine, the authority on American culture and society at the time, published a piece in 1854 outlining the historical context for the burgeoning tourist-based economy in Newport. Harper's stated, "From about the year 1840, and the erection of the 'Ocean House' and the 'Atlantic House,' may be dated the renaissance of Newport. There is an immortal excellence in the air and the island which will not suffer it to fall into forgetfulness or complete decay."

The Germania were known for innovative musical programming in Newport during this "renaissance" and gave a "Soiree Dansante, Preceded by a Grand Instrumental Concert" at the Atlantic House in 1853. An ad in the Newport Daily News previewed the program which included a classical concert, considered "part 1," and a set of dance tunes, "part 2," mostly composed by Strauss and the Germania's own Bergmann. In that same issue, it was suggested in commentary that it would probably be, "the only entertainment of the kind," that summer, and "lovers of excellent music and those who are fond of dancing, should not fail to attend." The full band also performed for this particular engagement, whereas at many of the other hotel "hops" (or, dances) only a portion of the Germania played, as they would be divided throughout Newport performing in smaller ensembles at the major hotels.

A few years later, on July 21, 1855 the Newport Mercury declared for the record: "The arrival of the Germanians this week, proclaims the commencement of the season, and the genial face of the leader, as he reappeared on the piazza of the Atlantic (House), was a harbinger of musical delight to young and old." The Germania were a core facet to the Atlantic House and Newport's summer identity.

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One acre of water in the four-acre park here today represents a vital part of early Providence history. The water is a reminder of the hundreds of acres of brackish water that covered the area that Roger Williams knew as the Great Salt Cove. Over time the water was drained, the land filled, and by 1898 all water had been drained to support laying railroad tracks for a booming transportation industry that supported the successful commercial businesses of Providence. Times changed; businesses declined; the downtown area languished. However, the River Relocation Project of the 1980s and 1990s brought life back to the Providence city center and with it a reimagining of the water that once ran through it. Today, Waterplace Park and the surrounding areas are home to walking paths, restaurants, concerts and WaterFire.

Imagine the smoky smell of bonfire fire, the crisp sound of wood crackling, and the warmth of thousands of people gathered around the rivers to witness the city’s star attraction, WaterFire. The performance art piece first opened in 1994 with eleven braziers lit on the water. By 1998, 81 braziers were installed and thousands of people a night came to see the mesmerizing performance credited with bringing pedestrians back downtown.

Following decades of industrial decay in downtown Providence, few people made their way to the heart of the city. Artist Barnaby Evans wanted to create a space where people could gather and walk together along the newly engineered Rivers that flow through downtown. The newly unveiled River Project was a blank canvas for Evans to work, and as a city dweller he was dedicated to making the space a destination for pedestrians. "By design, there is no point where you can see the whole installation at once, so you mingle with other citizens as you walk," said Evans. "It is designed so people can interact with each other, with the artwork and with the urban environment.” Using public art to rethink urban space, Evans made Waterplace Park a destination for locals and tourists alike.  Over a million visitors have walked along the Riverwalk to see Providence’s star attraction.

Today, over eighty wood burning fires, a music program, and street performers lure visitors and residents alike to Waterplace Park and the Providence Riverwalk on WaterFire evenings. Former Mayor, Buddy Cianci, once said, “There is nothing like it anywhere in the world, even in Florence or Venice.”

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Weybosset Street was alive with excitement as nearly 14,000 people attended the opening of the new 3,100 seat Loew’s State Movie Palace on October 6, 1928 to see the movie “Excess Baggage” on the big screen. Those lucky enough to have seats to the show were led by their usher, past talking parrots, into the opulent theater. People in Providence enjoyed the last days of the fabulous Roaring Twenties with no idea that in a little over a year the Jazz Decade would end, and the city built on industry would succumb to the Great Depression.

Since 1978, the Theatre has been on the National Register of Historic Places and has undergone extensive (historically accurate) renovations, becoming a world-class venue. Launching 14 national tours since 2008, the PPAC presents a major roster of Broadway touring theatricals annually. A broad range of concerts, dance, comedy, family shows and much more bring hundreds of thousands of people into Providence each year to experience the magic of live performance in what has been called “the jewel of Weybosset Street.”

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No organization embodies Providence’s moniker, “The Creative Capital”, more than AS220. Founded in 1985, this organization supports artists by providing housing, studio, exhibit, and performance space in downtown Providence. AS220 began in one room above the Providence Performing Arts Center at 220 Weybosset Street, when Umberto Crenca and friends decided Providence needed a space dedicated to supporting artists and artistic expression. “AS” stands for artists space or alternative space and 220 honors the room at PPAC where it all began.

Today, AS220 houses four rotating gallery spaces, a performance stage, a black box theater, a print shop, a darkroom and media arts lab, a fabrication and electronics lab, a dance studio, a youth program, 47 affordable live/work studios for artists, a bar and restaurant, and is a destination for over 51,000 people each year.

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While the story is set in Newport, many of the scenes were shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California, with a Bel Air mansion standing in for Newport. The film opens with a scenic flyover of Newport and its Gilded Age mansions including The Breakers and Clarendon Court. While some filming took place in Newport, many scenes filmed there were merely used as establishing shots, but you can definitely see Bellevue Avenue in the background of some driving scenes.  During Rhode Island filming, Grace Kelly stayed on the secluded side of Newport’s coastline at the Castle Hill Inn. Between takes, Kelly would sneak away to its quiet, rocky beach, where she could enjoy some privacy from autograph seekers. Kelly had recently announced her engagement to Prince Ranier of Monaco, and she wore her own engagement ring in the film. Because the climb back up from the beach was difficult, the staff of the Castle Hill Inn built a staircase to accommodate her. Today, the beach still has that staircase built for Kelly, and it is accessible to the public. The location is now called “Grace Kelly Beach.” In the film, the character played by Grace Kelly is wooed by three men including a jazz musician played by Bing Crosby, whose character is in charge of the Newport Jazz Festival in which Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra are to appear. The use of Newport as the setting for the film reinforced the “old money” lifestyle of the main characters. Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm sing “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” as they explore the opulent home of Kelly’s character. After the opening flyover, the scene changes to Armstrong and his Orchestra in their Greyhound bus, with scenes of Newport in the background. The father of late state Representative Paul Crowley allowed MGM’s crew use his station wagon to secure the camera as they drove down Bellevue Avenue to film this sequence.

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At its opening in 1926, the Columbus Theater was touted as “a testimonial to the Italian people.” The late Beaux-Arts theater was built, designed and decorated by Italians: owner Domenic Annotti, architect Oresto DiSaia, and muralist George DeFelice (whose work can also bee seen at Holy Ghost Church and the Rhode Island Statehouse). The theater, of course, is named for the famous Italian explorer and has 1,492 seats inside, where elaborate plasterwork and DeFelice’s murals (“The Music Sensation”, “The Echo of Music”) make this a rare and virtually intact showplace. The theater was equipped for movies and vaudeville at its opening, but followed a twisted path like the neighborhood. Arthouse after World War II became pornography by the 70s. The theater was the focal point of lawsuits, complaints, and multiple revitalization efforts until in 2009 it was closed for fire code violations. In 2012, a group of local musicians worked with owner Jon Berberian to re-open the space as a music co-operative that has become one of the hottest live-music venues in town.

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As patrons poured into the Orpheum Theater on opening night, April 15, 1912, the celebration may have been muted by news of the sinking of the Titanic early that morning. However, these were good times for New Bedford. The city’s economy thrived on its foundation of textile production and immigrant labor, and a performance by the Five Musical Durands was soon to inaugurate a spectacular new theater in a prime location between shops and restaurants on busy Water Street in the South End.

Although known today as the Orpheum Theater, the French Sharpshooter’s Club of New Bedford—Le Club des Francs-Tireurs—constructed this building to serve as its headquarters. Formed by French-Canadian immigrants, the Sharpshooters Club was a social and paternal organization focused on competitive shooting, military-style drill teams, and marching bands.  The club hired Fall River architect and French-Canadian immigrant Louis Destremps to design the building. Destremps was familiar with the city, having worked on Saint Anthony of Padua Church (1912) in the North End and the New Bedford Car Barn (1910). Sharpshooters Hall featured a shooting range, grand ballroom, gymnasium, retail storefront at street level, and a 1,500-seat Vaudeville theater.  Destremps created a masterpiece of French Renaissance design. Enormous carved heads, representing the Greek Muses of arts and sciences, adorned the façade, along with complex bas relief detail cast in porcelain over a terra cotta base, the same technique that Destremps later used on the Star Store (1916) on Union Street in New Bedford. Above the four lower muses were ornate copper torches, which have since disappeared. Construction began in 1910 and was completed in 1912 at a cost of $110,000, about $2.7 million in 2016. The Sharpshooters didn’t operate the theater in their building, but leased it to the Orpheum chain, a booking agency that provided acts to theaters around the country. Sharpshooters Hall is the second oldest Orpheum Theater, after the Palace Theater in Los Angeles. Orpheum acts included Harry Houdini, actress Lily Langtry, and the Marx Brothers, along with jugglers, dancers, and other Vaudeville-style entertainers. With the advent of motion pictures, Sharpshooters Hall installed a projection system and treated its patrons to films like King Kong and Citizen Kane. During the Second World War, the shooting range was used to train soldiers, while the theater kept patrons distracted and informed with movies, short cartoons, and news reels. The theater itself was part of the show. The vast auditorium contained 1,500 seats and a wrap-around balcony. It was decorated with complex moldings, painted scenes on the ceiling, and intricate murals on the walls. The theater continued to operate sporadically throughout the 1950s, but closed in 1962 when the French Sharpshooter’s Club sold the entire building. A tobacco company used the building as a warehouse, and a market operated out of the back for a number of years. The theater was abandoned to face the ravages of time and neglect. Today, Sharpshooters Hall and the Orpheum are privately owned, and the building remains in disrepair. 

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New Bedford was a city of smokestacks. The coal-fired boilers that powered the textile mills left a layer of gritty soot that seemed to cover everything. This legacy of industrialization is still visible on the darkened redstone exterior of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, which has served the North End’s French Canadian and immigrant populations since 1912. By 1900, first- and second-generation immigrants made up 70% of New Bedford’s population, and 33% of the city’s foreign-born residents were French Canadian. In 1912 alone, more than 12,241 French Canadian immigrants moved to New Bedford, helping to swell the city’s population to more than 96,000 people. In the late 19th century, most French-speaking Catholics attended Sacred Heart Church, a considerable distance from the North End where many French Canadians worked in textile mills and lived in three-decker tenements. In 1895, the newly-formed parish of St. Anthony of Padua met in North Union Hall, a block away from the current location of the church. The following year, the parish built a new wood-frame church, a three-story brick rectory, and a grammar school, followed two years later by a convent to house the school’s ordained teachers. Simultaneously, the parish began to raise funds for a substantial stone cathedral, and construction began in 1903. On the afternoon of September 20, 1904, a loud rumble and cloud of dust filled the air at the building site.  A fifty-foot high masonry wall had collapsed, killing two workers, Gilbert Tremblay and Joseph Rondeau, and injuring five others. The architect, Joseph Venne of Montreal, arrived two days later to inspect the damage, but was unable to determine a cause of the failure. Construction continued under the supervision of Fall River architect and French Canadian immigrant Louis G. Destremps, and the church was dedicated in November 1912. When parishioners passed through the massive front doors, they left behind the soot of the city and entered a sanctuary of divine beauty. 5,500 electric light bulbs—still a novelty in 1912—illuminated a 65-foot high vaulted ceiling. The rows of pews could accommodate 1,840 worshippers, watched over by thirty-two sculpted angels by Italian artist Giovanni Castagnoli. The Great Vision of Saint Anthony, a grouping of sculptures by Castagnoli, soars sixty feet behind the main altar, and 117 stained glass windows surround worshippers, including a triptych window of 370 square feet. Outside, the main steeple rises 256 feet and is visible from most parts of the city. Reflecting the demographics of its parishioners, St. Anthony’s first three pastors were born in Quebec, and the first six were of French Canadian descent. Today, St. Anthony’s offers a weekly mass in Spanish, serving its parishioners from Central America, the most recent group of immigrants seeking a better life in New Bedford.

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“Chow mein” and “chop suey"—both American appropriations of Cantonese words—have been part of the American English vocabulary since the late 19th century. With the end of mining and railway building as viable industries, Chinese food service establishments, along with hand laundries, became the major economic opportunity available to Chinese immigrants, as well as a crucial site of cultural exchange. Americanized Chinese food became an important part of the food landscape.

Chan’s Fine Oriental Dining, Jazz & Blues first opened in Woonsocket in 1905 as the New Shanghai Restaurant. A Chinese-American restaurant, Chan’s continues to offer variations on chop suey, chow mein, and fried rice.

In 1965, Ben F. Chan purchased the space, refurbished the dining area, and changed the name to Chan’s Fine Oriental Dining. In 1986, the restaurant doubled in size and added jazz, blues, folk, cabaret, and comedy performances. The space hosts acclaimed musicians while also providing familiar food options for locals.

A notable regional specialty is the chow mein sandwich, an amalgam of French Canadian, Italian, and Chinese cultures. Popularized in the predominantly Catholic towns of Fall River, New Bedford, and Woonsocket, Chinese restaurants and food trucks offered meatless sandwiches on Fridays in observance of religious strictures. The chow mein sandwich is served on a hamburger bun with noodles and a brown gravy made with onions, celery, and bean sprouts. An affordable and filling lunch option for textile mill workers, the chow mein sandwich also appeared in school cafeterias and on lunch counter menus. The sandwich signals the adaptation of traditional Cantonese cuisine to the tastes of Anglo-Americans.

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If anyone deserves a blockbuster biopic on this tour, it is Sissieretta Jones. Jones, a soprano, studied voice at the Providence Academy of Music, the New England Conservatory and the Boston Conservatory and in 1892 became the first African-American to perform at Carnegie Hall. That year, she also performed at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison, and later for three other presidents after him. By 1895 Jones was the highest paid African-American performer of her day.

Married at age 14, she divorced her husband in 1899 due in part to his gambling and mismanagement of her musical career, and formed a traveling dance-comedy-musical group called the Black Patti Troubadours as many opera houses barred African-Americans from singing (it wasn’t until 1955 that Marian Anderson broke this barrier at the Metropolitan Opera in New York).

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