Kemp Family Singers broadside, Leeds, ca. 1895
Item 99331 info
Maine Historical Society
George Washington "Wash" Kemp, along with his wife, Maria Barbour Kemp, and three of their daughters traveled around New England in the later years of the 19th century, performing as the "Colored Kemp Family" from the "Old Sunny South."
They performed for about 25 years.
Kemp and his wife and their two oldest children, John and Mary, were escaped slaves. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard was responsible for their move to Maine.
The broadside details the history of the relationship between Howard and the Kemps. When the war ended, Howard was head of the Freedmen's Bureau.
The broadside was restored from the original and reprinted.
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