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Ella Jenkins

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist

Ella Louise Jenkins (August 6, 1924 – November 9, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter and centenarian. Called the "First lady of children's music", she was a leading performer of folk and children's music.<ref name="GreaberNYT">Template:Cite news</ref> Her 1995 album Multicultural Children's Songs has long been the most popular Smithsonian Folkways release. She appeared on numerous children's television programs and in 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to culture writer Mark Guarino, "across her 67-year career, Jenkins firmly established the genre of children's music as a serious endeavor – not just for artists to pursue but also for the recording industry to embrace and promote."<ref name="Guarino">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and educationEdit

Jenkins was born to African American parents Annabelle Walker Jenkins and Obadiah Jenkins in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1924.<ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NYT" /> When she was four years old, she moved to Chicago with her older brother and her now single mother, who worked as a domestic worker.<ref name=":8" /><ref name="NYT" /> She grew up in predominantly lower-middle-class neighborhoods in the south side of Chicago.<ref name=NYT>Template:Cite news</ref> Jenkins received no formal musical training, and developed an appreciation for music while growing up in a family of Christian Scientists with eclectic musical tastes.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Her uncle, Floyd Johnson, introduced her to the harmonica<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the blues of such renowned musicians as T-Bone Walker, Memphis Slim, Little Brother Montgomery and Big Bill Broonzy. Her family frequently moved around the south side and, as she moved to different neighborhoods, she learned new children's rhythms, rhymes and games.<ref name="interview">Ella Jenkins, interview with the author, May 10, 2007</ref> Gospel music became a part of her soundscape as neighborhood churches broadcast their services onto the street.<ref name="adventures">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also enjoyed tap dancing lessons at the local theater and was able to go to the Regal Theater to see such performers as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and Peg Leg Bates. Cab Calloway is the person who she credits with getting her interested in call and response singing.<ref name="HistoryMakers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a teenager, Jenkins was also exposed to music from around the world through records released by Folkway Records.<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the late 1940s, Jenkins was involved with the Chicago branch of Congress of Racial Equality.<ref name="GreaberNYT" /><ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She graduated from DuSable High School in 1942.<ref name=":8" /> She then worked at the Wrigley Company and at the University of Chicago in a clerical position.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Three of her female coworkers encouraged her to return to school, and she entered Woodrow Wilson Junior College (now Kennedy–King College) in 1945; later in life, she tracked down all three women to thank them.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9" /> At Woodrow Wilson, she became interested in the music of other cultures through her Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican friends.<ref name="interview" /> She graduated from Woodrow Wilson in 1947 with an associate's degree.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During these years, Jenkins was also an enthusiastic table tennis player. In 1948 she won the Chicagoland Women's Table Tennis Championship, and was invited to join the national table tennis team, but was unable to due to associated costs.<ref name="NYT" />

She went on to attend Roosevelt University for a year before transferring to San Francisco State University,<ref name=":8" /> where she picked up Yiddish and Hebrew songs from her Jewish residence hall neighbors.<ref name=":9" /> While attending SFSU, she began singing in coffeehouses for adult audiences.<ref name=":9" /> In 1951, she graduated from SFSU with a BA in Sociology<ref name=":8" /> with minors in Child Psychology and Recreation.<ref name="adventures" /> Upon graduating, she returned to Chicago.<ref name=":0" />

Jenkins and the city of Chicago celebrated her 100th birthday on August 4, 2024 at Ella Jenkins Park in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref> On November 9, 2024, Jenkins died at an assisted living facility in Chicago; she was 100.<ref name=NYT/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Music careerEdit

In Chicago, Jenkins began writing songs for children while volunteering in recreation centers<ref name="adventures"/> and playing at Chicago folk clubs.<ref name=":5" /> She subsequently was hired as a Teenage Program Director for the YWCA in 1952. In 1956, while working at the YWCA, she was invited to perform on The Totem Club, a children's program which aired on WTTW, Chicago's NET (forerunner of PBS) affiliate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was soon offered a regular job as the host of a Thursday afternoon program on the channel, which she titled This is Rhythm.<ref name=":6" /> This made Jenkins one of the nation's first African-American television hosts.<ref name=":11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After landing the job, she left her position at the YWCA.<ref name=":9" /> She invited guests from diverse cultures, including Odetta and Big Bill Broonzy,<ref name=":6" /> to share their music's rhythms on her show.<ref name="interview"/>

File:SingASongJenkins.jpg
You Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song (1966)

In 1956, Jenkins decided to give herself five years to try working as a full-time musician.<ref name=":8" /> Later that year, Jenkins met American folklorist, educator and record producer Kenneth S. Goldstein at the Gate of Horn folk music club in Chicago. Goldstein recommended that she bring a demo tape to Moses Asch, the founder of Folkways Records.<ref name=":0" /> Asch was receptive to her music and in 1957, her first album, Call-And-Response: Rhythmic Group Singing, was released by Folkways.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" />

In the early 1960s, Jenkins hosted a radio show called Meetin' House.<ref name=":3" /> In 1962, Jenkins was offered the opportunity to work for the School Assembly Service, which developed educational programs for schools. Jenkins developed "Adventures in Rhythm", a program aimed at teenagers, which she took on the road and put on at school assemblies until September 1963. She and musician Harold Hampton Murray engaged the students with their call-and-response style and their appeal to "[students'] desire for forbidden knowledge," by presenting songs as ways to "convey histories that were not in their textbooks".<ref name=":3" /> Jenkins and Murray, who was also African American, faced prejudice and racism throughout their tour.<ref name="GreaberNYT" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11" /> In 1964, she performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s Illinois Rally for Civil Rights.<ref name="GreaberNYT" /><ref name=":11" /> The 1960s also marked the beginning of her business relationship with Bernadelle Richter, whom she met after Richter hired Jenkins to perform at the American Youth Hostel folk weekend. Richter "handled the business" of Jenkins' career, leaving her to focus on compositions and performances.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Jenkins was holding music workshops for children's educators by the early 1970s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jenkins began to receive wider attention in the early 1980s, after appearing as a guest on Sesame Street and being subsequently invited to appear on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1985, she appeared on Free at Last, a television special about Martin Luther King Jr. which was hosted by LeVar Burton. On the special, Jenkins performed the song "You Better Leave Segregation Alone".<ref name=":11" /> She later made television appearances on NBC's Today Show and PBS's Barney & Friends.<ref name=":12">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As a performer and educator, Jenkins traveled extensively, performing her songs on all seven continents (even Antarctica). As she traveled, she not only shared her music and experiences but also learned about the cultures of the people she is visiting, taking with her musical traditions and languages that she then shared with her audiences. She performed at America's Reunion on the Mall in 1993, America's Millennium Celebration in 2000, and at Smithsonian's 150th Birthday Party on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1996. In collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she acted as a U.S. delegate to Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, and the former Soviet Union.<ref name="adventures"/> She was a performer at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois for 40 years.<ref name=":8" />

In 2017, she was named a recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.<ref name=":6" /> Jenkins never officially retired, although she stopped giving public performances after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.<ref name=":8" />

AlbumsEdit

Folkways Records and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released 39 albums by Jenkins, including the popular 1966 album You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song and the 1995 album Multicultural Children's Songs. Jenkins' repertoire included nursery rhymes, holiday songs, bilingual songs, international songs, rhythmic chants, and original songs. Her 1960 album, Adventures in Rhythm, released by Scholastic, was intended for classroom use.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Nearly all of her albums include children singing with her.<ref name="NYT" /><ref name=":12" />

Jenkins' albums often drew on African and African-American music. Her second album, Adventures in Rhythm, incorporated West and North African chants, and her third album, African American Folk Rhythms, included the song "No More Auction Block", which was sung by African-American soldiers during the American Civil War. Her 1970 album, A Long Time, included African American spirituals and songs from the civil rights movement.<ref name="GreaberNYT" /><ref name=":11" />

As a recording artist, Jenkins gained extensive recognition. Her recordings received two Grammy Award nominations in the category of Best Musical Album for Children, and in 2004, she was recognized with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref name="grammy">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jenkins' final album, Camp Songs with Ella Jenkins and Friends, was released in 2017.<ref name="NYT" />

As an educatorEdit

Jenkins saw children as genuine, down to earth people who should be listened to and recognized as having much to offer. Fellow music educator Patricia Shehan Campbell called her as "a pioneer in her early and continuing realization that children have something to sing about, that the essence of who they are may be expressed through song, and that much of what they need to know of their language, heritage, and current cultural concepts may be communicated to them through song".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Jenkins used call-and-response singing to promote group participation.<ref>Liner notes from Call-And-Response Rhythmic Group Singing, Ella Jenkins, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW 45030, 1998, CD.</ref>

Awards and recognitionEdit

Music awardsEdit

Year Award Category Album Result Ref
1991 Parents' Choice Award Come Dance By the Ocean Template:Won citation CitationClass=web

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1995 American Academy of Children's Entertainment Best Variety Performer Award Template:Won citation CitationClass=web

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1999 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Lifetime Achievement Award Template:Won citation CitationClass=web

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2000 AFIM Indie Awards Children's Music A Union of Friends Pulling Together Honorable mention <ref name=":2" />
Grammy Awards Best Musical Album for Children Ella Jenkins and a Union of Friends (1999) Template:Nom citation CitationClass=web

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2004 Grammy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award Template:Won citation CitationClass=web

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2005 Grammy Awards Best Musical Album for Children cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins (2004) Template:Won citation CitationClass=web

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2012 Association for Library Service to Children Notable Children's Recordings Ella Jenkins: A Life of Song (2011) Template:Won citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Other awardsEdit

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  • Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from the Erikson Institute (2004)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Inducted into the San Francisco State University Alumni Hall of Fame (2004)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Living Legends for Service to Humanity Award (2011)<ref name=":11" />
  • Lifetime achievement award, Time Out Chicago's Hipsqueak Awards<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The Ella Jenkins Park in Chicago was the site of a celebration of her 100th birthday.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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LegacyEdit

Jenkins was dubbed the "First Lady of Children's Song". As noted in an obituary to Jenkins, "Before Jenkins, children's music in the United States consisted primarily of simplified, often cartoonish renditions of classical music".<ref name="NYT" /> She has been cited as an influence of later children's musicians, such as Dan Zanes.<ref name="NYT" />

A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins. The First Lady of Children's Music was published by Gloo Books on February 1, 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":4" /> It is the first kids picture book published about the life of Ella Jenkins. Author Ty-Juana Taylor noted that "Ms. Jenkins has used music as a tool to bridge and unite people across the world, especially in highly divisive times of the U.S. Civil Rights era."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The book is illustrated by Jade Johnson.

Academic Gayle F. Ward plans to release a biography of Jenkins in 2025 through Chicago University Press.<ref name=":3" />

DiscographyEdit

1950s and 1960sEdit

  • Call-and-Response Rhythmic Group Singing (1957, reissued 1990)<ref name="folkways13">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Adventures in Rhythm (1959, reissued 1989, 1992)<ref name="folkways14">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • African-American Folk Rhythms (1960, reissued 1998)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • This-a-Way-That-a-Way (1961, reissued 1989)<ref name="folkways15">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • This is Rhythm (1961, reissued 1994)<ref name="folkways.si.edu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Rhythm & Game Songs for Little Ones (1964, reissued 1991)<ref name="folkways16">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Songs and Rhythms From Near and Far (1964, reiussed 1997)<ref name="folkways8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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  • Play Your Instruments & Make a Pretty Sound (1968, reissued 1994)<ref name="Play Your Instruments and Make a Pr">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Counting Games & Rhythms for the Little Ones (1969, reissued 1990)<ref name="folkways16" /><ref name=":1" />

1970sEdit

  • A Long Time (1970, reissued 1992, 2024)<ref name="A Long Time to Freedom Template:Pipe Smith">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Rhythms of Childhood (1970, reissued 1989)<ref name="folkways1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Seasons for Singing (1970, reissued 1990)<ref name="folkways2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • And One And Two & Other Songs for Pre-School and Primary Children (1971, reissued 1990)<ref name="folkways3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • My Street Begins at My House (1971, reissued 1989)<ref name="folkways4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Little Johnny Brown with Ella Jenkins and Girls and Boys from "Uptown" (Chicago) (1972, reissued 1990)<ref name="folkways5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • This-A-Way That-A-Way (1973, reissued 1989, 1992)
  • Nursery Rhymes: Rhyming & Remembering for Young Children & for Older Girls & Boys with Special Language Needs (1974, reissued 1990)<ref name="folkways6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Jambo and Other Call and Response Songs and Chants (1974, reissued 1996)<ref name="folkways7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" />

  • Growing Up With Ella Jenkins (1976, reissued 1990)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • We Are America's Children (1976)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Songs, Rhythms And Chants for the Dance (1977, reissued 1982, 2000)<ref name="folkways8" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Travellin' with Ella Jenkins: – A Bilingual Journey (1979, reissued 1989)<ref name="folkways9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1980sEdit

  • I Know the Colors of the Rainbow (1981)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Looking Back and Looking Forward (1981)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Early Early Childhood Songs (1982, reissued 1996)<ref name="folkways10">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" />

  • Hopping Around from Place to Place Vol. 1 (1983; reissued 1999, 2015)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Hopping Around from Place to Place Vol. 2 (1983; reissued 2000, 2015)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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1990sEdit

  • Live at the Smithsonian (1991)<ref name="folkways11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • For the Family (1991)<ref name="folkways12">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Come Dance by the Ocean (1991)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Multicultural Children's Songs (1995)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

  • Holiday Times (1996)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

  • Songs Children Love To Sing (1996)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Ella Jenkins and A Union of Friends Pulling Together (1999)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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2000s and 2010sEdit

  • Sharing Cultures With Ella Jenkins (2003)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins (2004)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

  • A Life of Song (2011)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Get Moving with Ella Jenkins (2012)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 123s and ABCs (2014)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • More Multicultural Children's Songs (2014)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Camp Songs with Ella Jenkins and Friends (2017)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

FilmographyEdit

  • Ella Jenkins Live at the Smithsonian (1991)<ref name="folkways11" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • For the Family! (1991)<ref name="folkways12" />
  • cELLAbration Live! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins (2007)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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