Broome (Special Phonograph) Records was the first African American owned and operated record label in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Established by George W. Broome in 1919, Broome focused on promoting black concert artists who faced discrimination from the major labels. The label stopped pressing records in 1923 but overstock records were supposedly still being sold as late as 1940. Most of the records were original issues recorded and pressed by Columbia, but at least two were pressed from pre-existing masters. (

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

was the first African American owned label to record and press their own records.) Broome sold them through a regional mail order catalog that operated throughout eastern Massachusetts but also placed national ads in ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly M ...

''.

History

George Wellington Broome was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

in 1868. After an unsuccessful career in theater he soon married and moved his family to

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...

, where he worked in a variety of roles as a porter, laborer, and waiter. Broome_Special_Phonograph_Records_Ad

After attending

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in 1896, Broome started printing sheet music, including

Will Marion Cook William Mercer Cook (January 27, 1869 – July 19, 1944), better known as Will Marion Cook, was an African-American composer, pianist, orchestrator, lyricist, violinist, and choral director.Riis, Thomas (2007–2011)Cook, Will Marion ''Grove Music ...

's earliest compositions. He found employment working for the government, but his exact role is unknown. It helped him build up enough capital to establish the Broome Exhibition Company to produce African American documentary films. Broome became a local businessman, forming working relationships with both

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

and

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

By 1917 Broome was working as a sales agent for tenor

Roland Hayes Roland Wiltse Hayes (June 3, 1887 – January 1, 1977) was an American lyric tenor and composer. Critics lauded his abilities and linguistic skills demonstrated with songs in French language, French, German language, German, and Italian langu ...

, with his home address acting as Hayes business address. Hayes became the first African American to publicly distribute his own records. Going to Columbia to record and press them, selling them at his concerts, through agents, and by mail. Hayes' personal records were only available through 1918 while he was touring. Broome saw the demand in the African American community for commercial recordings of serious black performers outside stereotypical

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

. He established his own mail order catalog company in September 1919 to sell his records and remaining sheet music from his home. Most of Broome's records were original recordings he contracted through Columbia's personal record service, only applying his own label. At least one (No. 53) was an already existing master he purchased from the

Starr Piano Company The Starr Piano Company was an American manufacturer of Piano, pianos from the late 1800s to the middle 1900s. Founded by James Starr, the company also made phonographs and records and was the parent company of the jazz label Gennett Records, Gen ...

, and the Washington speech from an earlier Columbia master. The first three issues were advertised in October 1919 of The Crisis. The consensus amongst record collectors is that Broome stopped pressing records in 1923, continuing to advertise records into the late 1920s and selling the final remaining records in 1940. The exact number of issues released is unknown, only around a dozen have surfaced.

Partial Discography

The first records issued were singled sided, when the matrix changes to 51 they become double sided. There are three label variations: The blue background with black lettering (believed the earliest variation) the brown background with black lettering. (the most common) , and the brown background with red lettering.(only appearing for the Washington issue.) No. A "Atlanta Exposition Address"-

No. 1 "Go Down Mosses"-

Harry Burleigh Harry Burleigh (born Henry Thacker Burleigh, December 2, 1866 – September 12, 1949) was an American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer known for his baritone voice. The first black composer who was instrumental in dev ...

No. 2 "Villanelle"- Florence Cole Talbert No. 3 "Cradle Song"- Clarence Cameron White No. 51 "Go Down Mosses / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"-

No. 52 "Lament"- Clarence Cameron White / "Dell' Acqua: Villanelle"- Florence Cole Talbert No. 53 "Cradle Song" / - Clarence Cameron White / "So Near the Kingdom"-

Robert Carr Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, (11 November 1916 – 17 February 2012) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 26 years, and later s ...

and Ethel Toms (White singers) No. 54 "I Don’t Feel Noways Tired"- Edward H. S. Boatner / "In the Bottoms"-

Robert Nathaniel Dett Robert Nathaniel Dett (October 11, 1882 – October 2, 1943), often known as R. Nathaniel Dett and Nathaniel Dett, was a Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor. Born and raised in Canada until the a ...

No. 55 "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen"- Florence Cole Talbert / "Mammy"-

No. 56 "Villanelle"- Florence Cole Talbert / "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair"- Antoinette Garnes

References

{{reflist American record labels Record labels established in 1919 Record labels disestablished in 1923 Black-owned companies of the United States Early black-owned record labels