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"The product of a hardscrabble childhood, J. Mayo "Ink" Williams parlayed an Ivy League education into unlikely twin careers as a foundational producer of Black music and pioneering Black player in the early NFL. Clifford R. Murphy tells the story of an ambitious, upwardly mobile life affected, but never daunted, by white society's racism or the Black community's class tensions. Williams caroused with Paul Robeson, recorded the likes of Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and lined up against Chicago Bears player-coach George Halas. Though resented by the artists he exploited, Williams combined a rock-solid instinct for what would sell with an ear for music that put him at the forefront of finding, recording, and blending blues and jazz. Murphy charts Williams's wide-ranging accomplishments while providing portraits of the cutthroat recording industry and the possibilities, however constrained, of Black life in the 1920s and 1930s. Vivid and engaging, Ink brings to light the extraordinary journey of a Black businessman and athlete"--
List of contents
Introduction: Black Bottom
Chapter 1. Ink
Chapter 2. Howard
Chapter 3. Brown
Chapter 4. Buffalo Soldier
Chapter 5. Williams vs. Yale
Chapter 6. Alpha
Chapter 7. Sambo
Chapter 8. Black Swan
Chapter 9. Hammond Pro
Chapter 10. Paramount
Chapter 11. Bronzeville
Chapter 12. Mother of the Blues
Chapter 13. Bulldog
Chapter 14. Blind Lemon
Chapter 15. Black Patti
Chapter 16. Hokum
Chapter 17. Bumble Bee
Chapter 18. Maroon Tiger
Chapter 19. Sepia
Chapter 20. Outskirts
Chapter 21. Kingfish
Chapter 22.Ebony
Chapter 23. Pioneer
Postscript: Indelible
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Clifford R. Murphy
