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Ella Jenkins Dies

Ella Jenkins, the “first lady of children’s music,” has died at age 100.

Ella Jenkins plays a ukelele as she sings at a microphone.

© John Prieto—The Denver Post/Getty Images

Ella Jenkins, seen here in about 1980, performed for audiences all over the world.

As fun as it is to listen to, music is even more enjoyable when you sing along. Singer Ella Jenkins, who made a career out of inviting children to sing along with her, died on November 9. She was 100 years old.

Known as the “first lady of children’s music,” Jenkins recorded more than 40 albums of folk music aimed at young audiences and traveled the world performing for kids and adults. She not only sang traditional songs, like “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” but also wrote many songs herself. Jenkins loved all kinds of music, introducing her audiences to sounds and stories from the United States, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and more.

Jenkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1924 and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She surrounded herself with music from a young age, whether from her harmonica-playing uncle or recordings by 20th-century musicians like Cab Calloway. Calloway was famous for “call-and-response,” which means he would call out a lyric and get the audience to repeat after him. Jenkins would later use this same technique with her young audiences.

In the 1950s, as a young adult, Jenkins got a job directing activities for teens at a community center called the YWCA, or Y.  Jenkins, who played the ukelele, harmonica, organ, and many percussion instruments, began teaching music at the Y. This led to an offer to appear on a TV show once a week and, eventually, a recording contract. Jenkins’s first album, Call and Response: Rhythmic Group Singing, was released in 1957. 

Jenkins performed on every continent—even Antarctica, where she played her songs for children of the researchers who were working there.

“I had my harmonica. The penguins were very curious about me,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times.

When Jenkins went on tour, teaching and performing weren’t her only goals. She also wanted to learn. Jenkins had a never-ending curiosity about cultures around the world. She would take a recording device on the road so she could keep track of phrases she heard. Some of them ended up in her songs.

In addition to touring the globe, Jenkins appeared on many TV shows during her career, including Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Fans who loved to sing along with Jenkins felt a connection with her. 

“I get all kinds of hellos at airports and bus stations,” she once said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Wherever I go, children want to shake hands.”

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Did You Know?

Scientists spend stretches of time in Antarctica, even during the winter, when it’s so cold and windy that no one can leave the continent. In 2006, a group of British scientists working in Antarctica decided to use their time to form a band called Nunatak. Nunatak filmed one of their performances in 2007 (as shown in the photos).

A collage of photos showing five musicians in winter clothing such as coats and hats performing with instruments on the icy, empty landscape of Antarctica.

Dr. Alistair Simpson

Giving Thanks Around the World

A newspaper clipping shows an engraving of guests arriving at a farmhouse and portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Sarah Josepha Hale and reads, They gave us our Thanksgiving holiday.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers—The Midland Journal, 17 Nov. 1933/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (sn89060136/1933-11-17)

 In 1933, a newspaper called the Midland Journal published an article about the origins of Thanksgiving.

On November 28, the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday on which Americans gather for a feast to express gratitude for family, friends, and good health. Many countries have holidays or festivals that are meant for giving thanks, including Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Germany.

You may know that the idea of Thanksgiving dates back to a feast that the English colonists (or Pilgrims) shared with the Wampanoag people in 1621. But that celebration did not spark an annual celebration of thanks. In fact, the U.S. didn’t celebrate a yearly Thanksgiving holiday until more than 200 years later.

In 1863, during the U.S. Civil War between the Northern and Southern states, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book, suggested a Thanksgiving holiday as a way to promote unity. President Abraham Lincoln liked the idea. He proclaimed that November 26 of that year would be a national day of thanksgiving.

Every president after Lincoln proclaimed the holiday each year, most choosing the last Thursday in November. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation making the fourth Thursday in November a new national holiday: Thanksgiving Day.

The turkey float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an outdoor maypole dance with performers in traditional German clothing, people serving Thanksgiving meals at a soup kitchen, and Japan’s Empress Masako in traditional Japanese clothing.

© James Devaney, Pia Bayer—picture alliance, Rick Madonik—Toronto Star, Jiji Press—AFP/Getty Images/Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

These photos show Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S. (top left), Germany (top right), Japan (bottom left), and Canada (bottom right).

Music of the People

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Cotton-Eyed Joe
Five different forms of folk music are being performed.

Audio – American Folklife Center—John and Ruby Lomax 1939 southern states recording trip (AFC 1939/001)/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (AFS 02632a01)

Collage – World Digital Library Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (2021669761), © Stefano Ember/Dreamstime.com, Rowland Scherman—U.S. Information Agency/NARA, Korea Britannica Corp., Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The images above show different kinds of traditional music being performed. Click the Play button for a sample of a folk song called “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” performed by Elmo Newcomer in 1939.

Folk music is the music of the people. It’s a blend of different types of music that arrived in the United States with enslaved people and immigrants from all over the world!

You can learn more about folk music at Britannica.

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Word of the Day

convivial

Part of speech:

adjective

Definition:

: of or relating to social events where people can eat, drink, and talk in a friendly way with others

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