Alton Augustus Adams, Sr.

The Memoirs of Alton Augustus Adams, Sr.

First Black Bandmaster of the United States Navy

Edited by Mark Clague. Foreword by Samuel Floyd, Jr.

Music of the African Diaspora, 12

$49.95, £35.00 hardcover

978-0-520-25131-1

Available Now

388 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 16 b/w photographs
April 2008, Available worldwide
Categories: Music; Musicology; American Music; United States History

Description | Table of Contents | About the Author

Read Chapter 1, "A Historical Memoir", in pdf format

Alton Augustus Adams, Sr., was a musician, writer, hotelier, and the first black bandmaster of the United States Navy. Born in the Virgin Islands in 1889, Adams joined the U.S. military in 1917. Although naval policy at the time restricted blacks to menial jobs, Adams and his all-black ensemble provided a bridge between the local population and their all-white naval administrators. His memoirs, edited by Mark Clague, with a foreword by Samuel Floyd, Jr., reveal an inspired activist who believed music could change the world, mitigate racism, and bring prosperity to his island home.

Foreword by Samuel A. Floyd, Jr.
Acknowledgments by Mark Clague
Introduction: The Soul of Alton Adams by Mark Clague

The Memoirs of Alton Augustus Adams, Sr., 1889-1987
1. A Historical Memoir
2. The St. Thomas Craftsmen of the Nineteenth Century
3. The Value of Education
4. Music in the Virgin Islands and the Founding of the Adams Juvenile Band (1909)
5. The United States Navy Band of the Virgin Islands (1917-1923)
6. The Navy Band's 1924 United States Tour
7. The Close of the Naval Years (1925-1931)
8. The Naval Administration (1917-1931): An Evaluation
9. Civilian Government and Politics (the 1930s)
10. The Power of the Press (the 1940s)
11. Tourism and the Hotel Association (the 1950s)

Editorial Methods by Mark Clague
Editorial Notes by Mark Clague
Selected Bibliography
Index

Alton Augustus Adams Sr. was a bandmaster and civic leader in the Virgin Islands in the first half of the twentieth century. Mark Clague is Assistant Professor of Musicology, American Culture, and African American Studies at the University of Michigan. Samuel Floyd Jr. is Director Emeritus of the Center for Black Music Research and series editor for Music of the African Diaspora, UC Press.