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The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

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Content provided by Radio Diaries & Radiotopia and Radio Diaries. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Radio Diaries & Radiotopia and Radio Diaries or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

In 1921, a man named Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record company in the United States. He called it Black Swan Records.

In an era when few Black musicians were recorded, the company was revolutionary. It launched the careers of Ethel Waters, Fletcher Henderson, William Grant Still, and Alberta Hunter, artists who transformed American music.

But Black Swan’s success would be short-lived. Just a couple years after Pace founded the company, larger, wealthier, white competitors started to take an interest in the artists whose careers Pace had propelled. Then, Pace’s own life took a mysterious turn.

This episode was originally published in 2021.

  continue reading

229 episodes

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The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

Radio Diaries

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Manage episode 401137441 series 1297243
Content provided by Radio Diaries & Radiotopia and Radio Diaries. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Radio Diaries & Radiotopia and Radio Diaries or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

In 1921, a man named Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record company in the United States. He called it Black Swan Records.

In an era when few Black musicians were recorded, the company was revolutionary. It launched the careers of Ethel Waters, Fletcher Henderson, William Grant Still, and Alberta Hunter, artists who transformed American music.

But Black Swan’s success would be short-lived. Just a couple years after Pace founded the company, larger, wealthier, white competitors started to take an interest in the artists whose careers Pace had propelled. Then, Pace’s own life took a mysterious turn.

This episode was originally published in 2021.

  continue reading

229 episodes

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