John H. Scruggs (May 1855 – 5 March 1941), known as Uncle John Scruggs, was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

banjo player who attracted attention for his singing and playing during the 1920s and '30s.

Career

Scruggs was born to slave parents Henry and Betsey Scruggs in 1855, in

Buckingham County, Virginia Buckingham County is a rural United States county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and containing the geographic center of the state. Buckingham County is part of the Piedmont region of Virginia, and the county seat is Buckingham. ...

, where he spent almost his entire life. A film exists of him performing the folk

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

“Little Log Cabin Round the Lane” in a minstrel style. The footage was taken by the

Fox Movietone News Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Australia and New Zealand until 1970 ...

on November 8, 1928, in

Powhatan, Virginia Powhatan is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. Powhatan was initially known as Scottville (after Revolutionary war hero General Charles Scott), and historically has also been known as Pow ...

. John Scruggs played

5-string banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

in the traditional

clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called down-picking, overhand, or frailing, is a distinctive banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direct ...

style. There are no other known recordings of his music. He died in Macon, Virginia in 1941 at the age of 85. Uncle John appears in a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

called "All in the Family II", which is displayed at the Sherrod Library at

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an institutional Board of Tr ...

. John Scruggs is pictured between

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

, "the Father of bluegrass music", and Earl Scruggs, who popularized his own style the 5-string banjo picking in the 20th century. The mural displays the important role that African-American musicians have played in the evolution of American music. It shows also that racially diverse musicians are all members of the same family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scruggs, Uncle John 1855 births Musicians from Virginia American banjoists 1941 deaths People from Buckingham County, Virginia People from Powhatan County, Virginia 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians African-American banjoists