Those We Lost — September 16

Honoring those we lost on September 16 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Mamie Smith

Born May 26, 1891 — died September 16, 1946

Singer who made the first blues record.

Smith’s 1920 recording of "Crazy Blues" sold a million copies and proved Black record buyers existed — launching the entire "race records" industry and opening the studio door for Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and everyone since. She died nearly penniless in Harlem; some sources give differing dates, but her place as the mother of recorded blues is beyond dispute.

Hallie Quinn Brown

Born around 1845 — died September 16, 1949

Elocutionist, educator, and clubwoman.

Born to formerly enslaved parents, Brown taught freedpeople in the Reconstruction South, lectured across America and Britain — twice before Queen Victoria — led the National Association of Colored Women, and preserved Black women’s stories in her book Homespun Heroines. Her life stretched from before the Civil War to after World War II.

Stanley Crouch

Full name: Stanley Lawrence Crouch

Born December 14, 1945 — died September 16, 2020

Critic, columnist, and jazz intellectual.

Crouch’s combative essays championed the blues and swing as the core of American genius, mentored Wynton Marsalis, and helped conceive Jazz at Lincoln Center. Agree or argue — and everyone argued — he made Black music criticism a heavyweight art.

Irish Grinstead

Born June 2, 1980 — died September 16, 2023

Singer and member of 702.

With her twin sister Orish and LeMisha Fields, Grinstead powered the Las Vegas group’s hits "Where My Girls At" and "Steelo" — staples of late-nineties R&B. She died at forty-three, her harmonies pressed onto record forever.