author
James M. Trotter
1842–1892
Born into slavery and later rising to become a Union Army officer, teacher, writer, and public official, this remarkable 19th-century figure lived at the center of major changes in American history. He is especially remembered for linking music, culture, and Black achievement in one of the era’s pioneering books on African American musical life.
1 Audiobook
Music and Some Highly Musical People
by James M. Trotter
About the author
James Monroe Trotter was born in Mississippi in 1842 and grew up after his family gained freedom and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He became a teacher, then moved to Boston, where he joined the Union Army during the Civil War and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. His life reflects an unusual range of work and achievement, from education and military service to writing and government service.
After the war, Trotter worked in the postal service and later held the office of Recorder of Deeds in Washington, D.C. He is best known as the author of Music and Some Highly Musical People (1878), an important early study of music in the United States that gave serious attention to Black musicians and singers at a time when their work was often ignored.
Trotter died in 1892, but his legacy continued through both his own writing and his family’s public life. He is often remembered today as a pioneering music historian and as the father of activist and newspaper editor William Monroe Trotter.