AN AMERICAN MUSICIAN
James A. Bland (“the black Stephen Foster“), was only one of many early African-American blackface minstrels. But he's remembered today as the author of 700+ songs, several of which are still well-known and often played - nearly one hundred and fifty years later.
Bland was born in 1854 to free parents in Brooklyn NY.   His father set a high standard for James to live up to; one of America’s earliest black college graduates, a law degree from Howard University, a position with the U.S. Patent office). James, however, liked to sing and play the banjo at high school parties; later - admitted to Howard - James continued his career as 'the life of every party.' At the time, Howard students wore uniforms, attended drill and daily roll-calls, while attendance at off-campus theatricals and entertainments was expressly prohibited.   So, at 19, James and college parted ways, much to the chagrin of his parents.
James began to get minor jobs with African-American black-face minstrel shows that were starting to appear, including a Boston group, the Original Black Diamonds. He occasionally worked as a "hand" for white minstrel shows, and did some busking or played at beer-gardens while awaiting his next call. He had always been clever writing songs, and often based his ballads' themes or style on material he heard from blacks who were doing menial jobs in the Washington DC area.
After five years in small-time jobs, the owner of Ford's Theatre introduced him to white minstrel George Primrose, and James demonstrated a song he'd recently written. "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" was an instant hit; sentimental without bathos, easy to sing. As soon as it was published, every minstrel in every show heard of Jimmy Bland.
By the end of 1878, Bland was in Chicago with Sprague's Georgia Minstrels writing songs for its star, the dapper Sam Lucas. Bland provided Lucas with the imitation-spiritual walkaround "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers," and the gentle ballad "In the Evening By the Moonlight," while appearing as a comic and singer/banjoist in his own acts. When Lucas left Sprague's to join Billy Kersands in Haverly's Original Colored Minstrels he convinced James to join them. He wrote the still-popular "Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane" and “De Golden Wedding” during his first few months with Haverly's.   
Written within the idioms of blackface minstrelsy, James' music was crafted to be easy to perform, and never included poly-rhythms or "ragged" beats of later jazz or ragtime. He used ensemble call-and-response in many songs. His lyrics generally presented his black stereotypes in a fairly dignified manner, without the commonly-used perjorative terms and exaggerated characterizations, nor did he mock black religious practice.    Several of his songs called-out the abuses of slavery. And many of them were closely imitated, by Lucas, Dan Lewis, and others.
Bland travelled with the Haverly show throughout their 1880-81 tours of the West Coast and England. After the English tour he remained in London, living and working there for twenty years.   He performed at the command of Queen Victoria and of the Prince of Wales, and was billed in music-halls throughout Britain and in Germanya s "The Prince of Negro Minstrels." His income was excellent, but his lifestyle expensive. He continued to write and publish songs, but frequently sold them outright to publishers who often failed to give him credits.
James returned to the Washington DC in 1901 with little money, no family, and few friends to fall back on. Lucas and Kersands were working in three-act musical stage comedies by people like Bob Cole and the Johnson brothers. The big minstrel shows had been replaced by travelling tent-shows like Rabbits Foot.   His songs sounded old-fashioned compared to ragtime (and - unlike his contemporary Foster - he had no agents to keep his name before the public).   Suffering from tuberculosis, Bland moved to Philadelphia, where he wrote 18 songs for a production called "The Sporting Girl," but was paid only $250. Bland died in early 1911.
A number of his songs remained popular after his death; "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny" was adopted as the State song for Virginia in 1940. The Philadelphia Mummers use "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers" as the theme-song for their annual parade. The Lions Clubs of Virginia sponsor a contest and scholarships named in honor of Bland. Twenty-eight years after James' death, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers undertook a search for his grave and raised a monument. In 1970, James A. Bland was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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