Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience At Harvard and Radcliffe

LEADBELLY

LEADBELLY Huddie William Ledbetter was born outside Mooringsport, Louisiana, on 21 January 1885. He learned music from his mother (a choir director) and two musical uncles, and becam e known as the best guitaris t and singe r i n th e region by the age of 16. Afte r hi s first marriage he moved to Texas, where he met the famous bluesman "Blind" Lemon Jefferson, who performed with him and taught him many songs. Quick to anger, Ledbetter spent three stretches in prison for murder or assault (1918-25 ; 1930-34 ; 1939-40) . I t was during his second imprison ment that folklorists John and Alan Lomax discovered him while they were recording song s among Southern chaingangs . Th e musician acquire d th e nickname "Leadbelly" because, in Alan Lomax's words, "he had guts of steel and could outwork, outsing and outlast anybody else on a job." Ledbetter accompanied the Lomaxes on a 6000-mile round of recording and performing, winding up in New York City and starting a professiona l career. H e captivated both children and adults, and his visit to Harvard was followed by appearances on many college campuses. H e had an unsurpassed ready repertor y o f som e 50 0 songs o f al l types , many original wit h him . Fortunately, h e recorde d a n enormou s numbe r o f the m fo r commercia l release. H e also did a series of radio programs in New York, and his singing graced a numbe r o f Hollywoo d films . Tennesse e Williams , i n hi s pla y Orpheus Descending, hailed Leadbelly as the "greatest man that ever lived on the twelve-string guitar," and the legendary Woody Guthrie called him "the best living folksinger." Not lon g after a visit t o Paris , Ledbetter succumbe d t o Lou Gehrig' s disease in a New York hospital on 6 December 1949 . H e was the subject of a biographical novel, The Midnight Special (1971), by Richard Garvin and Edmond Addeo, and of an effective film biography, Leadbelly(1976), starring Roger E . Mosle y an d directe d b y th e eminen t blac k man-of-many-art s Gordon Parks. 282 LeadbeUy Kenneth B. Murdock to John A. Lomax Leverett House Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts January 18, 1935 John A. Lomax, Esq. Wilton, Connecticut Dear Mr. Lomax: Ia m delighted tha t there is a chance of gettin g you an d Lead Belly to come to Cambridge, and it will give me great pleasure to have you her e a t Leverett House . W e can get a n audience fo r you of undergraduates an d faculty members, and I shall ask especially the members of th e English Department an d of the Modern Language Conference. Mr . Kittredge is an Associate of this House and will do his best to be here, since he is very eager to hear Lead Belly. It seems possibl e tha t if you were abl e t o come, a n afternoo n meeting, at which Lead Belly could sing, might be arranged in a small room for a small group as part of a regular series of lectures given in connection with a bequest of Mr. Gray for lectures on poetry. I f this were arranged , this meetin g would be i n the afternoon , an d for it there would be a fee of, I should suppose, about $50—possibly more. Then, I should be delighted to have you dine with me and would plan a meetin g fo r th e evenin g a t Leveret t House . Unfortunatel y th e Houses have no funds to pay lecturers or entertainers, but we should, of course, be glad to have Lead Belly"pass his hat", and if there were a fee for the afternoon performance your trip would not be entirely unremunerative. I have to be away from the first of February until the 9th. I n the next week Professor Copeland is reading in the House, and we find Leadbelty 283 ordinarily that one big event a week is enough. S o far as I can tell now, however, the evening of th e 18th , or 19th , or 20th, would be entirely all right, and I think that probably one of thes e afternoon s could...