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186:. He was purportedly reluctant to launch a public singing career until he realised: "What induced me more than any thing else to appear in public was to give the lie to 'negro serenaders' (minstrels), and to show to the world that coloured men and women could sing classical music as well as the members of the other race by whom they had been so terribly vilified". He became famous for refusing to perform before segregated or white-only audiences. For an 1855 performance in
150:. His mother's name was Henrietta. As a youngster, Thomas showed a desire to learn music and was taught piano and organ by his older brother John. At the age of 18, he succeeded his brother as organist of St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. He and his brother were trained as tailors and operated a "fashionable merchant tailor shop" catering to upper class gentlemen and businessmen in Philadelphia.
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of
Philadelphia, among others. But as more people became acquainted with his singing, he was persuaded to appear at a Philadelphia recital in 1854 with African American concert artist Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, and became her student in voice. That 1854 appearance met with popular and critical
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Together with other members of his family, Bowers was a national organiser of "black opposition to the fugitive slave laws of the 1850s and a state representative of the Equal Rights
Convention. In October 1864 he was a delegate from Philadelphia to the National Convention of Coloured Men in
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writes: "Mr. Bowers, during his career, has sung in most of the
Eastern and Middle States; and at one time he even invaded the slavery-cursed regions of Maryland. He sang in Baltimore, the papers of which city were forced to accord to him high merit as a vocalist."
167:. Bowers personally disliked the sobriquet, but agreed to be billed as "Mareo". He proceeded to tour with Greenfield's troupe in Philadelphia, the Midwestern United States, New York, and Canada, and afterwards embarked on a successful solo career.
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from well-known operas". His voice was described as having a "wonderful power and beauty" and "extraordinary power, mellowness, and sweetness". His range was nearly two octaves. He was said to be "handsome" and had a strong stage presence.
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Despite his natural aptitude for music and enjoyment of singing, Bowers deferred to his parents' wishes not to perform outside the church. He declined offers to sing with the famous
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At the time of his death in 1885, he possessed "nearly $ 10,000 in real estate, Pennsylvania
Railroad stock, household furnishings and cash in the Farmers and Mechanics Bank".
764:
616:
Lapsansky, Emma Jones (January 1984). "Friends, Wives, and
Strivings: Networks and Community Values Among Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia Afroamerican Elites".
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success; the critics began calling him "The
Colored Mario" and "The American Mario" for the similarity of his voice to Italian opera tenor
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and toured with her troupe for a few years before embarking on his own successful solo career. He was the brother of professional singer
190:, where the theatre manager refused to seat six black patrons who had purchased reserved first-class seats, Bowers refused to perform.
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Thomas Bowers was born in 1836 in
Philadelphia. His father, John C. Bowers Sr. (1773–1844), was a secondhand clothing dealer, a
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titled "Enter Thomas Bowers", Thomas was portrayed as the
African American opera singer by actor William Marshall.
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Bowers married
Lucretia Turpin, a native of New York, sometime before 1850. They had one daughter, Adelia.
110:
678:
531:
The Negro Genius: A New
Appraisal of the Achievement of the American Negro in Literature and the Fine Arts
365:
History of Black Americans: From the emergence of the cotton kingdom to the eve of the compromise of 1850
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The Elite of Our People: Joseph Willson's Sketches of Black Upper-Class Life in Antebellum Philadelphia
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Trotter, James Monroe (1881). "Thomas J. Bowers, Tenor-Vocalist; Often styled the "American Mario"".
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Bowers also appeared at benefit concerts to raise funds for the recruitment of black soldiers to the
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African American Freedom Journey in New York and Related Sites, 1823-1870: Freedom Knows No Colour
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The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States
105:", was an American concert artist. He studied voice with African-American concert artist
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Bowers found the stage an ideal platform from which to espouse his opposition to
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Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience
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A fictionalized version of Thomas Bowers's life was depicted by actor
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Price, III, Emmett G.; Kernodle, Tammy; Maxille, Horace (2010).
306:"Philadelphia's Black Elite In The Shadows Of History 1840-1940"
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Washington, Linn; Lawrence, Bette Davis (8 February 1988).
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Dialogues on Opera and the African-American Experience
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Appiah, Kwame Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (2005).
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663:. Haskell House Publishers Ltd. 1900. p. 116.
637:. Africana Homestead Legacy Pb. pp. 213–215.
618:The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
750:"Enter Thomas Bowers" at Internet Movie Database
101:(c. 1823–October 3, 1885), also known as "
561:. University Press of Mississippi. p. 50.
534:. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. p. 99.
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277:African American concert singers before 1950
558:Racial Uplift and American Music, 1878-1943
765:19th-century African-American male singers
660:Autobiography of Dr. William Henry Johnson
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725:Music and Some Highly Musical People
405:Music and Some Highly Musical People
528:Brawley, Benjamin Griffith (1966).
144:St. Thomas African Episcopal Church
770:19th-century American male singers
588:. Arcadia Publishing. p. 39.
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631:Matthews, Harry Bradshaw (2008).
341:. Pennsylvania State University.
148:Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society
146:, and one of the founders of the
368:. Greenwood Press. p. 310.
790:African-American abolitionists
362:Foner, Philip Sheldon (1983).
274:Nettles, Darryl Glenn (2003).
130:titled "Enter Thomas Bowers".
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555:Schenbeck, Lawrence (2012).
280:. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
107:Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield
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677:Cheatham, Wallace (1997).
582:Scott, Donald Sr. (2008).
775:Singers from Philadelphia
698:Southern, Eileen (1997).
502:. ABC-CLIO. p. 244.
311:The Philadelphia Inquirer
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170:Bowers specialised in "
428:Delany, Martin Robison
142:and school trustee at
38:Background information
335:Winch, Julie (2000).
243:In a 1964 episode of
124:in a 1964 episode of
111:Sarah Sedgwick Bowers
160:Frank Johnson's Band
683:. Scarecrow Press.
219:Syracuse, New York
720:Trotter, James M.
585:Camp William Penn
408:. Johnson reprint
206:Camp William Penn
204:training camp at
188:Hamilton, Ontario
184:racial inequality
103:The Colored Mario
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202:Union Army
134:Early life
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140:vestryman
722:(1881).
620:: 20–21.
430:(2012).
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
