James A. Bland

James A. Bland was born in Flushing, NY in 1854. His father, one of the first African Americans to receive a college education, was appointed examiner in the U.S. Patent Office; the family then moved to Washington D.C., where James Bland attended school. He played the banjo as a teenager and He graduated from Howard University. He worked and toured with various minstrel groups in the United States and Europe, notable playing for Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales, Grover Cleveland, and Robert E. Lee. He died in Philadelphia of tuberculosis in 1911. He wrote over 700 songs. "Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny" became the state song of Virginia in 1940.

Dianne Shapiro from SongWriters Hall of Fame website (https://www.songhall.org/profile/James_Bland) (accessed 1/14/2024)