{"id":61070,"date":"2021-07-15T15:14:50","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T15:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=61070"},"modified":"2021-07-15T15:15:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T15:15:49","slug":"an-american-riddle-the-black-music-trailblazer-who-died-a-white-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=61070","title":{"rendered":"\u2018An American riddle\u2019: the black music trailblazer who died a white man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018An American riddle\u2019: the black music trailblazer who died a white man<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/a>
\n2021-07-14<\/p>\n

Ammar Kalia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nHarry Pace<\/a>, lawyer and cultural entrepreneur, thought by his family to have been Italian. Photograph: Courtesy of Peter Pace<\/em><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A fascinating new podcast delves into the life of Harry Pace<\/a>, forgotten founder of the first black-owned major record label in the US<\/a> \u2013 and unlocks a shocking and prescient story about race<\/em><\/p>\n

There are, according to the academic Emmett Price<\/a>, \u201csix degrees of Harry Pace<\/a>\u201d. He is referring to the man born in 1884 who founded America\u2019s<\/a> first black-owned major record label; desegregated part of Chicago<\/a>; mentored the founder of Ebony<\/em> and Jet<\/em> magazines and spearheaded the career of blues singer Ethel Waters<\/a>. Pace is a figure who is seemingly everywhere at once, yet his name has been suspiciously absent from the history books.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story encapsulates how progress comes about in America \u2013 and it is never in a straight line,\u201d says Jad Abumrad<\/a>. \u201cIt is often a cycle \u2013 one that contains hope and despair, smashed together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best known for their work on Radiolab<\/a> and its hit spin-off, Dolly Parton\u2019s America<\/em><\/a>, Abumrad and his co-producer Shima Oliaee<\/a> are speaking from New York<\/a> about their latest podcast, The Vanishing of Harry Pace<\/em><\/a>. The six-part series examines the life and legacy of its titular character \u2013 the founder of Black Swan records<\/a>, who had a hand in coining the term \u201crock \u2018n\u2019 roll<\/a>\u201d. Pace was also a civil rights lawyer, a collaborator of WEB Du Bois<\/a>, and, you might think, a pioneering black American erased from history because of his race…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n