Zelia N. Breaux: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = [[Jefferson City, Missouri]], US

| death_place = [[Guthrie, Oklahoma]], US

Zelia N. Page was born on 6 February<ref name="Find A Grave">{{cite web|title=Zelia Page Breaux|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=breaux&GSfn=zelia&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=38&GScnty=2169&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=40916982&df=all&|website=Find A Grave|publisher=Find A Grave|access-date=10 April 2015}}</ref> 1880 in [[Jefferson City, Missouri]] to [[Inman E. Page|Inman Edward]] and [[Zelia Ball Page]]. She earned a bachelor's degree in music from the [[Lincoln University (Missouri)|Lincoln Institute]], where her father was serving as principal. When her father accepted the presidency of the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now [[Langston University]]) on 1 May 1898, he offered her a job as a music teacher and she relocated to Oklahoma Territory. Page established the school's music department and taught piano and instrumental music.<ref name="Atkins (2009)">{{cite web|last1=Atkins|first1=Hannah D.|title=Breaux, Zelia Page (1880–1956)|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=BR010|website=Oklahoma History Center|publisher=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|access-date=16 April 2015|date=2009}}</ref><ref name="KC Journal (1899)">{{cite news|title=Langston Negro College|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2222674/langston_negro_college_kansas_city/|access-date=16 April 2015|work=Kansas City Journal|date=5 May 1899|location=Kansas City, Missouri|page=6|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{open access}}</ref> In 1902, she organized the first orchestra at Langston which began with seven musicians and two years later had grown to 23 students. She established the choral society, a glee club and the school band, requiring students to study classical music.<ref name="Reese (1997)">{{cite book|last1=Reese|first1=Linda Williams|title=Women of Oklahoma, 1890-1920|date=1997|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman, Oklahoma|isbn=0-8061-2999-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenofoklahoma100rees/page/164 164]&ndash;166|url=https://archive.org/details/womenofoklahoma100rees|url-access=registration}}</ref>

On 6 December 1905, Page married Armogen Breaux.<ref name="Atkins (2009)" /> (9 August 1870 – 9 December 1958).<ref name="Armogen Grave">{{cite web|title=Armogen Breaux|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40917086|website=Find A Grave|publisher=Find A Grave|access-date=10 April 2015}}</ref> The couple had one son, [[Inman A. Breaux]] (4 October 1908 – 24 November 1967), who was a Professor of Education, an Administrative Dean, and Dean of Student Affairs at Langston University.<ref name="Inman obit">{{cite journal|title=University Mourns Loss of Inman Breaux|journal=Langston University Gazette|date=December 1967|volume=30|page=2|url=http://dclu.langston.edu/archives_gazette_newspaper_19601969/1|access-date=16 April 2015|publisher=Langston University|location=Langston, Oklahoma}}</ref>

She was a talented musician and played the trumpet, violin and piano.<ref name="Early (2010)">{{cite book|last1=Early|first1=Gerald Lyn|title=Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man|date=2010|publisher=Marshall Cavendish Corporation|location=Tarrytown, New York|isbn=978-0-7614-4275-2|pages=16–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wM85VMF0aNcC&lpgpg=PA16|access-date=10 April 2015}}</ref> Breaux discouraged her students playing jazz, instructing them in [[classical music]] and music theory<ref name="Jasinski (2013)">{{cite news|last1=Jasinski|first1=Laurie E.|title=Christian, Charles Henry [Charlie]|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fch37|access-date=10 April 2015|agency=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|date=August 30, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Purcell (2008)">{{cite journalthesis|last1=Purcell|first1=Richard Errol|title=Ralph Ellison and the American Pursuit of Humanism|journaltype=DoctoralPhD Thesis|date=2008|page=195|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-BTChZa1eMC&lpgpg=PA195|access-date=10 April 2015|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|isbn=9780549895183}}</ref><ref name="Verve Music Group">{{cite web|title=Jimmy Rushing|url=http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/jimmyrushing|website=Verve Music Group|publisher=Verve Music Group|access-date=10 April 2015}}</ref> but she owned the only black theater in Oklahoma City and often hired blues and jazz musicians to play at her Aldridge Theater.<ref name="Reese (1997)" /> [[Count Basie]], [[Gonzelle White]] and [[King Oliver]]'s bands all played there, as well as [[Ida Cox]], [[Ma Rainey]], [[Bessie Smith]] and [[Mamie Smith]].<ref name="Nevergold (2007)" />

The Douglass High School band, which she organized in 1923 with twenty-five participants, was renowned throughout the United States. The students, who were both junior and senior high musicians, became minor celebrities.<ref name="Jackson (2007)">{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=Lawrence Patrick|title=Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius|date=2007|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=Athens, Georgia|isbn=978-0-8203-2993-2|pages=54&ndash;58|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NCEV37_oA2AC&lpgpg=PA453}}</ref> Through their national appearances, the band influenced a wide range of musicians including [[Eubie Blake]], [[Charlie Christian]], [[Duke Ellington]], [[Jimmy Rushing]], [[Noble Sissle]], and [[Sherman Sneed]].<ref name="Atkins (2009)" /><ref name="Arnold (2010)">{{cite book|last1=Arnold|first1=Anita G.|title=Oklahoma City Music: Deep Deuce and Beyond|date=2010|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|location=Charleston, South Carolina|isbn=978-0-7385-8427-0|pages=9, 41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-prkQJXDotAC&lpgpg=PA9}}</ref> [[Ralph Ellison]], novelist and musician, called Breaux his "second mother".<ref name="Jackson (2007)" />

In 1932 Breaux organized the May Day celebrations, during which the Douglass band played. In 1933<ref name="Atkins (2009)" /> the band led the [[Century of Progress]] Parade at the Chicago World's Fair<ref name="Nevergold (2007)">{{cite book|last1=Nevergold|first1=Barbara A. Seals|last2=Brooks-Bertram|first2=Peggy|title=Uncrowned Queens: African American Women Community Builders of Oklahoma|date=2007|publisher=Uncrowned Queens Publishing|isbn=978-0-97229-774-5|pages=34–36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l-EbnrFFYeoC&lpgpg=PA35}}</ref> and they performed for a national radio broadcast while there. The Douglass band performed at the Texas Centennial Celebration in [[Dallas]] in 1936 and in 1937 participated in the Black State Band Festival, which Breaux created, with seven other bands.<ref name="Atkins (2009)" />

* [[Bernard Anderson (trumpeter)|Buddy Anderson]]<ref>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AN004.html ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' – Oklahoma Historical Society at Oklahoma State University.]</ref>