Blind Tom Wiggins News
American pianist and composer (1849–1908)
- piano
- United States of America
- composer, pianist
Last update
2024-03-29
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2022-06-27 23:39:23
DailyKos.com: "As Black Music Appreciation Month comes to a close, it’s fitting to spend this last #BlackMusicSunday in June exploring it"
[…] the White House each year since then. Though the name has shifted over the years, the subject has remained the same. According to music historians and those who have documented White House history, the first known appearance of a Black person to perform there was a young, blind, enslaved child who was known as “Blind Tom,” and whose name has been recorded as Thomas Greene, Thomas Wiggins, and Thomas Bethune. Born in 1849, Thomas performed at the White House in 1859.
2021-03-07 01:16:00
Born into slavery, Thomas Wiggins, who performed as “Blind Tom,” became a touring phenomenon, playing his own compositions and improvising on the piano.Credit...George Kendall Warren/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-kumZzEyr0&t=7sThe New York Times By Anthony Tommasini March 3, 2021 He Was Born Into Slavery, but Achieved Musical Stardom The life and work of Thomas Wiggins, who toured as “Blind Tom,” has been given more attention in recent years. Charity Wiggins, a slave on a Georgia plantation, was 48 in May 1849, when she gave birth to a baby boy. The child, whom she named Thomas, was born blind, and Charity feared that their owner would deem him a useless burden — with potentially dire consequences. Sure enough, before long Charity’s family — of five, at the time — was put up for sale to settle some of the owner’s debts. Charity made […]
2021-03-03 10:00:13
The life and work of Thomas Wiggins, who toured as “Blind Tom,” has been given more attention in recent years.
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