George Leonard White

WHITE, George Leonard. b. Cadiz, New York, September 1838; d. 9 November 1895. Son of a village blacksmith, White received a public school education through the age of fourteen and became a school teacher. He received no specific musical instruction but had a great love for music and encouraged music making by his students. Prior to the Civil War, White taught in schools and churches in Ohio where he organized a Sunday school for black people. Despite being threatened, he continued this work. He served in the Civil War until he was discharged for illness. After the war he went to Nashville under the auspices of the Freedmen’s Bureau. When the Fisk Free Colored School was chartered in 1866...