![Ernest Hogan smiling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Ernest_Hogan_smiling.jpg)
Ernest Hogan (born Ernest Reuben Crowdus; 1865 – May 20, 1909) was the first
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
entertainer to produce and star in a
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
show (''The Oyster Man'' in 1907) and helped to popularize the musical genre of
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
.
A native of
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the 2 ...
, as a teenager Hogan worked in traveling
minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...
s as a dancer, musician, and comedian. In 1895 Hogan composed several popular songs, including "
La Pas Ma La
"La Pas Ma La" is the first ragtime composition to be published by minstrel performer Ernest Hogan in 1895. With his troupe, the Georgia Graduates
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasi ...
" and "All Coons Look Alike to Me". The success of the latter song created many derogatory imitations, known as "
coon song
Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they we ...
s" because of their use of
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and
stereotypical images of black people.
Hogan was considered one of the most talented performers and comedians of his day.
[''Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing'' by Mark Knowles, McFarland & Company, 2002, , pages 119-20.] His contribution to the racist "coon song" craze haunted him—before his death he stated that he regretted using the
racial slur
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
in his song.
Early years
He was born Ernest Reuben Crowders in the Shake Rag District of
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the 2 ...
, in 1865.
Little to nothing is known about his childhood, but as a teenager, he traveled with a minstrel troupe called the Georgia Graduate, performing as a dancer, musician, and comedian. During this time he changed his name to Hogan because "Irish performers were in vogue."
He would also claim that he took the name to honor a Judge Hogan of Bowling Green, for whom his mother had worked as a cook. A few years after changing his name to Hogan, Ernest started finding success in solo acts in New York City. Hogan likely performed in
blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
during this time, as he sometimes did later in his career.
Family life
Ernest Hogan was believed to have been married twice. He was first wed to a youthful singer named Mattie Wilkes. She was a popular soprano who had been performing in vaudeville shows with him; they married around 1901 or 1902. Hogan was later reportedly married to a woman named Louise, who helped him organize concerts in the early 1900s. The specific dates of these marriages are not known; Hogan did not have children with either of his wives.
His earliest ragtime composition
![The Missionary Man sheet music 1902](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/The_Missionary_Man_sheet_music_1902.jpg)
It was also during this time that Hogan created a comedy dance called the "La Pas Ma La" , which consisted of a walk forward with three steps back. In 1895, he wrote and composed a song based on this dance called "pasmala" .
The song's chorus was:
:Hand upon yo' head, let your mind roll back,
:Back, back back and look at the stars
:Stand up rightly, dance it brightly
:That's the Pas Ma La.
Hogan followed this song with the hit "All Coons Look Alike to Me". Hogan was evidently not the originator of the song's lyrics, having appropriated them after hearing a pianist in a Chicago salon playing a song titled "All Pimps Look Alike to Me".
[''Ragging It: Getting Ragtime into History (and Some History into Ragtime)'' by Loring White, iUniverse, 2005. xiv, 419 pp. , pages 99-100] Hogan merely changed the words slightly, substituting the word "coon" for "pimp"
[''Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History'' by Edward A. Berlin, 2002, , page 35.] and added a
cakewalk
The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black Slavery in the United States, slave plantations before and after End ...
syncopation to the music, which he had heard being played in back rooms and cafes.
[''Dvorak to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America's Music and Its African American Roots'' by ]Maurice Peress
Maurice Peress (March 18, 1930 – December 31, 2017) was an American orchestra conductor, educator and author.
After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand ...
, Oxford University Press, 2003, page 39. The song eventually sold over a million copies.
[(23 July 1896)]
From Thursday's Daily
''The Telegraph Courier'' (Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...
), p. 2, col. 2 (reporting on appearance of Georgia University Minstrels on July 22, 1896 at Rhode Opera House in Kenosha: "The best song of the evening was 'All Coons Look Alike to Me,' composed by him a few days ago. The song was swing and go to it and ought to make considerable money for the author.")
Hogan's use of the
racial slur
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
"coon" in the song infuriated many African Americans. Some black performers made a point of substituting the word "boys" for "coons" whenever they sang it.
In addition, the success of this song created many imitations, which became known as "
coon song
Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they we ...
s" because of their use of extremely racist and
stereotypical images of blacks. In Hogan's later years he evidently felt shame and a sense of "race betrayal" for the song.
Ironically, the word "coon" was more socially acceptable than "pimp" among white audiences of the time.
The controversy over the song has, to some degree, caused Hogan to be overlooked as one of the originators of
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
, which has been called the first truly American
musical genre. Hogan's songs were among the first published ragtime songs and the first to use the term "rag" in their sheet music copy. While Hogan made no claims to having exclusively created ragtime, fellow black musician Tom Fletcher said Hogan was the "first to put on paper the kind of rhythm that was being played by non-reading musicians."
When the ragtime championship was held as part of the 1900 World Competition in New York, semifinalists played Hogan's "All Coons Look Alike to Me" to prove their skill.
[''The Music of Black Americans: A History'' by Eileen Southern, W W Norton & Co Inc, 1983, page 317.]
As Hogan said shortly before he died,
Death
In January 1908, Hogan collapsed onstage in New York and again in Boston while performing in "The Oyster Man." Forced to leave the show, Hogan spent the remainder of his life trying but failing to recuperate. He died from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
in
Lakewood, New Jersey
Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community as of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 135,158 representing an increase of 41,415 (+45.5% ...
, on May 20, 1909.
See also
*
African-American music
African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slave ...
*
African-American musical theater
African-American musical theater includes late 19th and early 20th century musical theater productions by African Americans in New York City and Chicago. Actors from troupes such as the Lafayette Players also crossed over into film. The Peki ...
*
Coon song
Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they we ...
*
Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogan, Ernest
1865 births
Hogan Ernest
19th-century African-American male singers
African-American cultural history
American entertainers
Male actors from Kentucky
Musicians from Bowling Green, Kentucky
Ragtime composers
Singers from Kentucky
Songwriters from Kentucky
Vaudeville performers
African-American singer-songwriters
20th-century African-American male singers