Perry George Lowery (

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

, October 11, 1869 –

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, December 15, 1942) was an American composer, conductor, cornet player, and a circus sideshow manager of African American entertainment and musical ensembles.

Early life

Born October 11, 1870, P. G. Lowery came from a musical family. He played the drums in a family band, but later transitioned to cornet.

Musical career

P.G. Lowery spent most of his musical career as a performer, manager, and band leader with different traveling circuses. At the turn of the century the U.S. was a deeply segregated country and economic opportunities were limited. Most African Americans worked in agriculture, domestic work, or unskilled labor. P.G. Lowery and many other Black musicians found opportunities in the circus. The traveling circus was a popular form of entertainment before movies. In the early 1900s every circus had an African-American sideshow band and/or minstrel show.

Early career

In 1895 Lowery performed the cornet in a band for the show Darkest America, with the Mallary Brothers Minstrels. The following year he played with the Wallace Circus. Next Lowery became a cornetist with the

Original Nashville Students The Original Nashville Students, also referred to as the Original Tennessee Jubilee and Plantation Singers, the Nashville Students, and H. B. Thearle's Nashville Students, were an ensemble of eight or nine African-American jubilee singers. The moni ...

and P. T. Wright's Colored Comedy Company. In 1897 or 1899 he studied at the Boston Conservatory under the direction of Henry C. Brown. In the summer of 1898 he played solo cornet at the

Trans-Mississippi Exposition The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Omaha, Nebraska, from June 1 to November 1, 1898. Its goal was to showcase the development of the entire West from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast. The Ind ...

in Omaha, Nebraska with the Original Nashville Students. And in 1899 he started the P.G. Lowery's Famous Concert Band and P.G. Lowery's Vaudeville Company, an important accomplishment because he was the first African American to bring his own vaudeville troupe to the circus. During the early 1900s he published a newspaper column, "The Cornet and Cornetists of Today" in

The Freeman ''The Freeman'' (formerly published as ''The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty'' or ''Ideas on Liberty'') was an American libertarian magazine, formerly published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). It was founded in 1950 by John Chambe ...

Late career

P.G. Lowery led and managed bands in circus sideshow tents for the remainder of his career. Black band leaders, like P.G. Lowery, "strove toward social and economic equality through hard work and artistic and musical achievement." Lowery worked with the following circuses: Sells Brothers and Forepaugh's Circus, Wallace and Hagenbeck, Ringling Brothers, Cole Brothers, and Barnum and Bailey. His longest stint with a circus was from 1919–1931 with the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus where he managed his own band.

References

External links

First look clip of new PBS Doc, "The Circus"
Short two-minute video about racial discrimination and how PG Lowery changed his sideshow by hiring women and getting rid of blackface.
P.G. Lowery and the spread of African American Music
Two minute video about Lowery's career and traveling musicians. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowery, P. G. African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement American jazz bandleaders American jazz composers American conductors (music) American jazz cornetists American male drummers 1869 births 1942 deaths Drummers from Kansas