BLAND, JAMES

BLAND, JAMES. Minstrel/Songwriter (23 October 1854 in Flushing, New York; 5 May 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). His family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when he was six, and there he first became interested in music. About 1868 his family relocated in Washington, D.C., when his father was appointed to a civil-service position. After graduation from high school, he entered Howard University in Washington with the intent of studying law but soon deserted the classroom to become a minstrel...