John H. Scruggs (May 1855 – 5 March 1941), known as Uncle John Scruggs, was an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

player who attracted attention for his singing and playing during the 1920s and '30s.

Career

Scruggs was born to

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

parents Henry and Betsey Scruggs in 1855, in

Buckingham County, Virginia Buckingham County is a rural United States county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and containing the geographic center of the state. Buckingham County is part of the Piedmont region of Virginia, and the county seat is Buckingham. ...

, where he spent almost his entire life. A film exists of him performing the folk

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

“Little Log Cabin Round the Lane” in a minstrel style. The footage was taken by the

Fox Movietone News Movietone News was a newsreel that ran from December 1927 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Spain in the early 1930s a ...

on November 8, 1928, in

Powhatan, Virginia Powhatan is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. It was initially known as Scottville (after Revolutionary war hero General Charles Scott), and has historically also been known as Powhatan ...

. John Scruggs played

5-string banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

in the traditional

clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called down-picking, overhand, or most commonly known as frailing, is a distinctive banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The style likely descends from that of West African lutes, suc ...

style. There are no other known recordings of his music. He died in Macon, Virginia in 1941 at the age of 85. Uncle John appears in a

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

called "All in the Family II", which is displayed at the Sherrod Library at

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was historically part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee under the Tennessee Board of Regents, but since 2016, ...

. John Scruggs is pictured between

Bill Monroe William Smith Monroe ( ; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre takes its n ...

, "the Father of bluegrass music", and

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finge ...

, who popularized his own style the 5-string banjo picking in the 20th century. The mural displays the important role that African-American musicians have played in the evolution of American music. It shows also that racially diverse musicians are all members of the same family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scruggs, Uncle John 1855 births Musicians from Virginia American banjoists 1941 deaths People from Buckingham County, Virginia People from Powhatan County, Virginia 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians African-American banjoists