The Rag Time Musicale that Scott Joplin and Henry Jackson presented June 27, 1900 has proven to be quite a revealing event. That the Musicale was held where it was is breathtaking: Forest Park, a privately-owned pleasure park two miles south of Sedalia’s existing southern border. Owned and operated by the town’s streetcar company, the park was only accessible by their cars, and provided a source of revenue for the line on weekends when ridership was otherwise low. The map below, on which I’ve indicated all the locations we can with reasonable confidence pinpoint Scott Joplin in Sedalia, gives a good indication of just how remote the site was: its the lone marker in the map’s southern region. Forest Park featured a pond with an island in the center accessible by a footbridge, a pavilion, garden and restaurant. Accommodations for picnicking and canoeing were available. The park itself was short-lived, originating in the 1880′s and closed by 1909, a period in which Sedalia’s streetcar line underwent several changes in ownership, before being absorbed by a large holding company operating streetcars in towns and cities across the U.S. To the residents dismay, the holding company chose to close the park and sell the property.
The park was, to say the least, remote. Even today the site sits a full half mile outside the city limits, and is quite noticeably “in the country.” Somewhat less obvious is that the park was VERY far removed from Sedalia’s African-American community, concentrated, for the most part on the town’s far north side, north of the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks. To present their Rag Time Musicale, Scott Joplin, Henry Jackson and the entire cast of performers would have ridden a streetcar all the way through Sedalia’s white business and residential area, and two miles through open countryside to reach their destination.....and back again! The Supreme Court’s Plessy vs Ferguson decision upholding the lawfulness of “separate but equal” accommodation at this point in time was only five years old, and the case had been brought over the legality of segregation on railroads. In many cases in the years that followed, attempts were made to segregate or otherwise restrict African Americans on municipal and street railways as well. The review of the event indicates an audience of “several hundred” and the participation of perhaps 18 performers. I suspect the “several hundred” in attendance were white, given the location of the performance and the absence of advertising for the event in Sedalia’s black press. See below for related images.