William Christopher Handy

William Christopher Handy was born on November 16, 1873, in a two-room log cabin approximately one-half mile north of this site. He grew up in Florence, where his father and grandfather were Methodist-Episcopal ministers, and early in life he developed a deep understanding and appreciation for religious music as performed in black churches. Later, he composed and published more than 30 spirituals. As a young man, he traveled widely as a band leader and musician playing the trumpet and cornet. From 1901 to 1903, he taught music at the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College in Normal, Alabama, and from 1903 to 1909 he directed the Knights of Pythias Band in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In 1909, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he composed the "Memphis Blues." That work, along with the "Saint Louis Blues," the "Beale Street Blues," and 37 other blues tunes, made him an internationally prominent figure in the music world. He moved to New York in 1918 and established a very successful music publishing business, then spent the next several decades actively involved in the music business while composing and performing. He had a deep appreciation of his own race, its heritage, and accomplishments, and he wrote, edited, and published five books on this subject, including his autobiography The Father of the Blues. Florence, Alabama, was always home to him, and he often returned to visit relatives and friends. During a visit in the summer of 1931, he planned and conducted an elaborate concert, and funds raised at the event were donated to the Greater St. Paul AME Church. In the late 1930s he went blind, and in 1955 he suffered a stroke that confined him to a wheelchair. He continued to compose music until his death on March 28, 1958, at the age of 84, and he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York City.

Florence, Alabama · United States