Zoom In John PowellJohn Powell, the renowned Richmond-born composer and pianist, clutches an American flag in this news service photograph from 1920. Two years later, he and Ernest Sevier Cox, a self-styled ethnologist, organized the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America, which were committed to maintaining the purity of the white race. The Richmond branch of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs claimed 400 members in a matter of months, and local chapters opened throughout the state. Though Powell himself had not been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, three of the top leadership positions of the Richmond branch were held by former Klansmen. The Anglo-Saxon Clubs successfully pressured the General Assembly to pass the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited interracial marriage, defining anyone with any trace of non-white blood as black.. (The sole exception to the law were those who claimed less than one-sixteenth of Native American blood.) Wealthy Virginians and powerful newspaper editors supported the white-supremacist sentiments espoused by Powell. Fear of racial mixing was particularly pronounced among genealogy-obsessed Virginians who wanted to maintain a "pure" bloodline.Original Author: Bain News ServiceCreated: April 23, 1920Medium: Glass-plate negative Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Divisionhttp://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00001462mets.xml Like many a memorable character, John Powell, who was also a founder of the Anglo- Saxon Clubs of America, is both compelling and repelling. A classical composer and pianist from Richmond, Virginia, Powell studied in Vienna with Theodor Leschetizky, in Prague with Karl Navrátil. He made his debut in Berlin in 1907, when he was twenty-five years old; the performance was hailed by critics as one of the most successful the city had ever known.In the first part of his career, Powell incorporated all forms of American music — notably, African-American music — into compositions like Sonata Virginianesque and Rhapsodie Nègre. But by the 1930s, when he was selecting and shaping the White Top Folk Festival musicians, he was committed to promoting what he considered “Anglo-Saxon” music: a pure, white music from a pure, white region of America, whose music was dangerously at risk of becoming defined by a black American baby called Jazz.By excluding black musicians, probably of some Anglo heritage themselves, Powell and other festival organizers brought to the mountaintop the pernicious bias that would become Powell’s legacy.In 1924, Powell was instrumental in a court case that prevented the marriage of Dorothy Johns and James Connor by proving that one of Johns’s ancestors was black, thus she could not legally marry Connor, who was white. Some thirty-four years later, Powell was also instrumental — by virtue of his efforts in the 1920s — in making sure that interracial newly-weds Mildred and Richard Loving didn’t get a full night’s sleep. A few weeks after they were married, the Lovings were awakened around two a.m. by flashing police lights and escorted from their bed so they could be booked into the Caroline County, Virginia, jail. Each was charged with a felony. Excerpted fromhttp://mulattodiaries.wordpress.com/tag/eleanor-roosevelt/ Roger > Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 17:21:14 -0400> From: [log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] FW: John Powell> To: [log in to unmask]> > Mr. Hunter,> > I have studied Mr. Powell very closely, and it is not hubris at all to> state that after about 1920 he was a bigot of the first order> and a member of the Klan. He almost single-handedly reduced the White Top> Folk Music Festival from a truly significant annual> folk music event to carnival-come-ice-cream-social because of his> bull-headed refusal to allow even black Gospel groups to> participate in it. It is said the only black person to enter White Top> after 1938 was Eleanor Roosevelt's chauffer.> > I'm sorry if you object to my use of the word "right-wing," but I do object> to what you say about "the left trying to conceal its> parentage" -- that sounds like something Anne Coulter would say. Mr. Powell> was a great pianist and composer but believe> me his racial views and politics had NOTHING to do with the left, ever!> > I'll shut up now.> > Dave Lewis> > > On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 5:10 PM, L. Hunter Kevil <[log in to unmask]> wrote:> > > Just a comment about John Powell as a "right-wing" racialist agitator. In> > fact the eugenics movement of the early part of the last century - the root> > of this racial madness - was created and developed by progressives such as> > Margaret Sanger, Woodrow Wilson, and others. Their ideas and laws were> > opposed by conservatives, particularly Christian ones. The left often tries> > to conceal its parentage.> >> > L. H. Kevil> >> >> > On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 3:24 PM, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:> >> > > In general the collectability of anything classical has declined sharply> > in> > > the past decade. Powell, however, has> > > been generally forgotten, and those who are aware of who he is are also> > > aware of his activities as an extreme> > > right-wing agitator. So top dollar might be out of the question these> > days;> > > maybe settle for an offer made by someone> > > who wants them.> > >> > > Dave Lewis> > >> > >> > > On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 1:06 PM, Steven Smolian <[log in to unmask]>> > > wrote:> > >> > > >> > > >> > > > _____> > > >> > > > From: Steve Smolian [mailto:[log in to unmask]]> > > > Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 8:49 AM> > > > To: Smolian> > > > Subject: John Powell> > > >> > > > I've just obtained copies of two privately made John Powell 78 sets-> > > > Mozart> > > > Ssonata , K. 311 (4s) and 3 pieces by Powell (3 12" 78s) and Schumann> > 's> > > > Humoresque . op. 20 (4 78s) . He was a Lescheizky pupil, highly> > praised,> > > > and an American composer well known during his lifetime (1882-1963)> > > >> > > > These were once considered among the most collectible of U.S. piano> > > > records.> > > > In the past, I've sold each set at a price in the lower four figures.> > > I've> > > > not heard them mentioned in years. I couldn't find them in Popsike> > Are> > > > they still so highly regarded or has time applied the soft pedal to> > their> > > > reputation?> > > >> > > > I'll consider offers.> > > >> > > > Steve Smolian> > > >> > > >> > >> >
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