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Map: Surveyed by Charles Blaskowitz and published by William Faden, 1777.
When the future composer Occramer Marycoo was brought to America as a slave, he landed in Newport, Rhode Island. Today his achievements are getting belated attention.

It isn’t rewriting history to discuss slavery in America or the life of slaves. It’s resurrecting history. As one website admonishes, “To build a more just and equitable future, we must face our history in all its complexity.”

Today’s article, from Early Music America, is about an 18th century African who suffered the horror of slavery and is now being honored as the first published Black composer in America.

Sophie Genevieve Lowe writes, “In January 2023, Sotheby’s held an auction for a Chippendale chest of drawers, estimated to sell for almost $800,000. Part of its unusually high value derived from the original owner, which Sotheby’s advertised as the ‘Important Lieutenant Colonel Caleb Gardner’ — a hero of the American Revolution and friend to George Washington. Sotheby’s omits that Gardner helped enslave some 3,912 human beings, one of whom was Occramer Marycoo, perhaps the first Black African to have music published in America and the first Black musician to be recognized by the white American community as a professional musician.

“Occramer Marycoo’s story commences and concludes in Africa. … Based on the spelling of his name, it is likely that Marycoo was from an Akan language people group from the Gold Coast of Africa, specifically Ghana.

“Marycoo was forcibly transported to the American colonies, possibly on the 1764 voyage of the ship ‘The Elizabeth,’ owned by sea captain Caleb Gardner.  Records from the Transatlantic Slave Database show that the ship left Cape Coast, a prison fort in Ghana, with 120 captives on board. Only 89 survived the crossing.

“Although the majority of enslaved people who were brought to Newport, Rhode Island, were eventually shipped to the Caribbean, Gardner kept Marycoo as his own property, renaming him Newport Gardner. He is thought to have been around 14 years old when brought to America and, throughout his life, he would go by both names. …

“It was not long after arriving in Newport that Marycoo displayed his brilliant intellect. He quickly became fluent in English and French and learned the fundamentals of music. He was said to be composing within four years of his arrival in America. There are several theories as to who taught Marycoo, the most prominent being American composer Andrew Law (1749–1821). Law wrote much about music education. …

“There are numerous references to compositions by Marycoo, but his only known surviving work is the crux of Marycoo’s historical place as the first published musical work by a Black person in the nascent United States. Musicologist Eileen Southern, in her 1997 book The Music of Black Americans: A History, theorized that ‘Crooked Shanks,‘ from a collection called A Number of Original Airs, Duetto’s, and Trio’s [sic], published in 1803, was by Marycoo. The piece is credited to a composer with only the last name given, Gardner.

“However, new research seems to indicate that the music had been composed prior to the 1803 publication date. ‘Crooked Shanks’ was also previously published in London under the title ‘The Sea Side‘ by the publisher Bride in Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1768, and in the 1770s, as the ‘The Bill of Rights’ by the publisher Thompson.

“John Fitzhugh Millar identified both these melodies in his book Country Dances of Colonial America. He also believes that Marycoo wrote this melody and goes as far to hypothesize that Marycoo also listed the dance instructions that accompany the melody. Marycoo’s status as a slave would have certainly been a deterrent to properly credit him at the time — if he indeed wrote the piece. …

“We can gather clues to some of Marycoo’s musical influences. As a composer and teacher, Law dedicated himself to forging an American musical style based on European traditions. That element is found in Marycoo’s short but delightful ‘Crooked Shanks.’ Although more scholarship may uncover earlier published compositions by Marycoo, as of now ‘Crooked Shanks’ stands as the first attributed published piece of music by a Black composer in the European style in the United States.

“Many sources point to Law as the most likely teacher to Marycoo. The problem is that the first known time that Law went to Rhode Island was in 1783, when Marycoo was already in his late thirties. By then, Marycoo had already composed his first known work, an anthem based on text from the biblical Book of Jeremiah, on or before 1764.

“An earlier teacher could have been the composer Josiah Flagg (1737-1794). Flagg was also a publisher and, in collaboration with Paul Revere, published a collection of psalm tunes in 1764, the same year as Marycoo’s anthem. Marycoo’s anthem was used in worship until at least 1940 at the Union Congregational Church in Newport, though it now appears lost. In all likelihood, Marycoo probably had a variety of musical teachers in America.

“As Marycoo approached his own musical identity, he would no doubt have been influenced by African musical traditions. West Africa had a rich history of musical instruments, for example the lute had been in West Africa since the 14th century. There is also the possibility he was a part of the jilikea or ‘singing men.’ These men were from an aristocratic family who were used by royalty to recall history, perhaps similar to the troubadours of Europe.”

How difficult it is to puzzle out these lost histories! I have to admire the people who are committed to doing it.

More at Early Music America, here. No firewall.

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