Black American Sheet Music Collection
The Bank of America Black American Sheet Music Collection consists of approximately 4000 pieces of published sheet music reflecting the influences of African Americans on popular music in the United States. The music was created by, performed by, published by, or portrays Black and African American themes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States. The collection highlights popular vocal music, jazz, big band, and swing music published in the United States. The earliest piece in the collection dates to 1818, and the latest editions date into the 1980s, thereby giving a chronicle of the evolution of Black-inspired music in America for almost 200 years. Some imagery and lyrics in this collection reflect harmful racist depictions of Black people and are included in the collections for their use in academic research.
Content Warning:
USF Libraries’ Digital Collections include historical and primary sources from many cultures and time periods. Some content may be harmful, graphic, difficult to view, or reflect biases. Digital Collections provides access to these materials to preserve the historical record, but we do not endorse the attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors found within them. USF Libraries’ is committed to conscious editing of Libraries’ generated descriptive terminology that may be offensive, harmful, or out of date.
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Sugar Foot Stomp
Joseph Nathan Oliver
An Elmer Schoebel Arrangement. Written by Joe Oliver, also known as Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver, who was a Black American jazz musician noted for mentoring Louis Armstrong.
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Susan Rayne
E. P. Christy
A celebrated Ethiopian melody as sung by the Christy Minstrels. Arranged for voice and piano.
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Sweet Hawaiian Moonlight and You Can Have It, I Don't Want It
Henri F. Klickmann
A double number containing Sweet Hawaiian Moonlight, a valse pathetique by F. Henri Klickmann, and You Can Have It, I Don't Want It, a jazz foxtrot by Hill, Williams and Piron.
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Tar Babies
Charles Leslie Johnson
Rag by Charles L. Johnson, the composer of "Iola" and "Dill Pickles."
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That Precious Little Thing Called Love
Chris Smith and Cecil Mack
Cecil Mack was a Black songwriter. Chris Smith was a Black songwriter.
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That's What's the Matter with Hannah
J. H. Ross and S. S. Steele
Comic Ballad. Song and chorus as sung by J. L. Murphy of Cotton, Murphy and Smith's Minstrels.
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The 20th Century Rag
Maurice Abrahams, Grant Clarke, and Edgar Leslie
Words by Grant Clarke and Edgar Leslie. Music by Maurice Abrahams.
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The Dixie Kid
Adam Geibel and Richard Henry Buck
Plantation song and chorus. Words by Richard Henry Buck. Music by Adam Geibel.
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The Dying Child
Louis V.H. Crosby and Theodore A. Gould
From A Collection of Songs and Ballads Composed with a Piano Accompaniment. "Music composed and respectfully dedicated to Mrs. Eliza Chandler of Springfield, Mass."
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The Dying Girl
John Hill Hewitt
From Songs of Kunkel's Nightingale Opera Troupe. As sung by Master J. Adams.
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The Hazel Dell
G. Friedrich Wurzel
Sung by Wood's Minstrels of New York. Composed by George Frederick Root, who chose to go by the pseudonym G. Friedrich Wurzel (Wurzel is German for "root") to capitalize on the popularity of other German composers.
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The Island of Gardens
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall
From "Songs of Sun and Shade," the poem by Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall.
