Ernest Hogan

Ernest Hogan (born Ernest Reuben Crowdus; 1865 – May 20, 1909[1]) was the first Black American entertainer to produce and star in a Broadway show, The Oyster Man, in 1907 (shows at the African Grove Theatre preceded it by generations) and helped to popularize the musical genre of ragtime.

[2] A native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Hogan worked in traveling minstrel shows as a dancer, musician, and comedian as a teenager.

[3] He was born Ernest Reuben Crowders in the Shake Rag District of Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1865.

[4] Little to nothing is known about his childhood, but as a teenager, he traveled with a minstrel troupe called the Georgia Graduate, performing as a dancer, musician, and comedian.

[5] A few years after changing his name to Hogan, Ernest started finding success in solo acts in New York City.

The controversy over the song has, to some degree, caused Hogan to be overlooked as one of the originators of ragtime, which has been called the first truly American musical genre.

"[8] When the ragtime championship was held as part of the 1900 World Competition in New York, semifinalists played Hogan's "All Coons Look Alike to Me" to prove their skill.

The ragtime players were the boys who played just by ear their creations of music which would have been lost to the world if I had not put it on paper.