folk singer; composer; musician
Personal Information
Full name Ella Louise Jenkins; born August 6, 1924, in St. Louis, MO.
Education: Wilson Junior College, A.A,, 1945-47; Roosevelt College, 1947-48; San Francisco State College, B.A., 1949-51.
Memberships: A.S.C.A.P. (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), American Federation of Musicians, International Platform Association.
Career
Young Women's Christian Association, program director, Chicago, 1952-56; folksinger, 1956--.
Life's Work
Ella Jenkins has been hailed as the "First Lady of Children's Folk Song," yet she never had any formal musical training. She has taught countless children in every corner of the world, yet she never trained as a teacher and insists she learns far more than she teaches. And Jenkins was actively promoting multicultural awareness long before the concept came in vogue. The talented and dynamic Jenkins did not set out to be a performer, never envisioned herself as an international children's ambassadress, yet these are only a few of her many unique accomplishments.
Jenkins is also a composer and a musician who plays instruments ranging from the ukelele and harmonica to cowbells, the occasional pipe organ, and sometimes even rocks. She has recorded more than two dozen albums in her more than four-decade career, and she has written a book. She has visited all seven continents, and, in very special ways, has touched the lives of children from Hong Kong to Haiti, from the former Soviet Union to cities all across the United States, sharing the unique gifts of music and understanding that have become synonymous with her name. As Mike Joyce said in the Washington Post, "She's seen the world, to be sure, but more importantly, the world has seen and heard Ella Jenkins."
Born in St. Louis, on August 6, 1924, Ella Jenkins grew up on Chicago's South Side. Her family was poor and often moved in an ongoing attempt to get farther "uptown." Thus, as a child Jenkins experienced life in many different neighborhoods and early on discovered that a shift of even a short distance might mean entirely new street games, jump rope songs, and chants. As the newcomer she quickly absorbed what her new friends had to teach her, then she shared with them from her own ever-growing supply.
Jenkins loved all kinds of games--from hop scotch and jump rope to marbles-- but her favorites were always those that involved movement, rhythm, and music. Listening to her Uncle Flood play his harmonica along with blues recordings, Jenkins was inspired at an early age to make music of her own and taught herself to play the harmonica. But other influences abounded, too. Gospel music flowed out of neighborhood Baptist churches, and the pop music of the day was played on loud speakers so that Jenkins and her friends, who could not afford to buy records of their own, could listen, sing, and even dance along on the sidewalk. If the world around her happened to be silent, Jenkins filled it with her own music--singing, or humming, or even whistling, despite the fact that whistling wasn't considered "ladylike." "I have a good ear, and I was fascinated by what I heard," Jenkins stated in an interview in the Washington Post.
Still, music, as important as it was, was not Jenkins's first priority as a young girl. Education was what was most important according to her mother, and Jenkins absorbed the message easily and well. She was especially interested in the foreign languages she was introduced to during her high school years. If she was not entirely certain what she would do with her life after graduation, she was far from worried. With so many men away fighting in World War II, unlimited opportunities existed for those willing to work.
However, when Jenkins set out to find a job after high school, she discovered that the opportunities of 1942 seemed to be reserved for white women. Repeatedly Jenkins found herself turned away. The cost of being "colored" was brought painfully home. Doggedly she continued making the rounds of factories and businesses known to be hiring, but her hope and confidence had shriveled considerably by the time she entered the Wrigley's Gum factory to fill out yet another application. This time, though, she finally heard the words, "You're hired."
Jenkins's euphoria was short-lived. Although she had been accepted by the company, she was not accepted by her coworkers, and Jenkins was forced to spend her breaks and lunches in solitude. It was cruel punishment for the very social young woman, but Jenkins finally had a job, and she was not about to give it up, no matter how lonely and down-hearted she might feel. Instead, she concentrated on her work. As a waxer she was responsible for dipping small cardboard boxes into tubs of hot wax, coating them before they were filled with K-rations for servicemen--rations that included a package of gum along with a chocolate bar and other treats. Weeks went by in this lonely fashion. Then one day one of the white women introduced herself to Jenkins, and said she would like her to meet the rest of the group. Jenkins had been accepted at last, and it was a day she was never to forget.
Jenkins was almost 21 years old when she learned that a college education could be had for the most nominal of fees, and she eagerly enrolled at Wilson Junior College in 1945. She received her associates degree in 1947, and went on to attend Roosevelt College for one year. It was there, in 1948, that she met some people from California who said she should go back with them--that more opportunities for employment were available there. So Jenkins packed her few belongings and excitedly headed west. The opportunities she discovered, however, were jobs as onion peelers and lettuce pickers--not at all what she had envisioned.
Jenkins was frustrated and beginning to despair when she overheard someone talking about table tennis--a game she truly loved. Upon asking the stranger where she could go to play she was directed to a recreation center in Albany. Entering, she heard with delight the familiar rhythm of the tiny ball bouncing alternately off paddle and table. The two youngsters who were playing were having some difficulty keeping the ball in play, and after observing for a few minutes Jenkins offered them some helpful tips. The director of the center happened to overhear and promptly offered her a job working with the children on a regular basis. Jenkins accepted and her new life in California began in earnest.
Eager to complete her undergraduate work, Jenkins enrolled at San Francisco State College in 1949. After graduating two years later, with a degree in sociology, Jenkins returned to Chicago, where she joined the staff of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in 1952, as director of the teenage program. Service to others had always been an integral part of her life; even as a teen herself, she had volunteered time regularly to help those less fortunate than herself. Continuing that practice as an adult, she frequently worked with teenagers on a voluntary basis whenever she was not helping young people through her post at the YWCA. She spent most of her Saturdays, for instance, doing street performances with area teens.
One of those performances earned Jenkins an invitation to appear on "Totem Club," a public television program. Jenkins was so well received that she was invited back again and again. Thus encouraged, Jenkins ventured to write her own music and lyrics for the first time, and her distinctive talent eventually caught the attention of people in the entertainment field, one of whom steered her to Moses Asch, founder of Folkways Recordings in New York City. Asch listened to her demo with interest and told her to come back when she had enough songs for an album. It was the beginning of a recording relationship that was to span more than four decades. Inspired by his faith in her, Jenkins left her position at the YWCA in 1956, to embark on a career as a full time performer and composer.
Children responded well to her music and swelled the ranks of her audiences, spurring Jenkins into the seemingly natural path of educating as well as entertaining. The overwhelmingly positive reactions to her lessons in rhythm and rhymes and foreign languages could not be doubted. Her first album, Call and Response: Rhythmic Group Singing, was released in 1957. The interactive, unique call and response format delighted her audiences. No longer were they expected to sit passively listening; on the contrary, they were expected to participate and become an integral part of each performance. "It is never too early," Ella Jenkins was quoted in Janis Hashe's article in L.A. Parent Magazine, "to teach children about different ways of speaking, different rhythms and different ways of moving their bodies."
As her popularity increased and her reputation grew, Jenkins was invited to perform in other countries, and she discovered that children everywhere, despite their cultural differences, have many things in common. In a Washington Post interview Jenkins said, "I never treat music as an entity in itself. It just paves the way to understanding other things--biography, geography, cultures, [and] self-esteem." Jenkins specialized in bringing her music to kids, but she also takes away their impressions, their responses, and sometimes even their songs, and she shares them with children in other places. Like the child she was, who once went from neighborhood to neighborhood learning new games and rhymes and sharing those she already knew, the grown up Jenkins shares on an global level. A review in Parenting Magazine said of her 1996 release, Multicultural Children's Songs, the "simple but irresistible songs, poems, and mini- language lessons [from Swahili to Spanish to Swiss] reflect the beauty and value of diverse cultures."
Another quality Jenkins found all children hold in common is curiosity. In an interview with the Washington Post she stated, "Children have questions, and we who work with children should have some answers. And when we don't have answers, we should start looking for them." It is this kind of passion that comes through so powerfully in her performances and that children respond to with such enthusiasm. More than half a dozen appearances on television's Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood brought Jenkins's distinctive voice into the homes of countless children. Film footage of her concerts has appeared on Sesame Street, and, in 1993, Jenkins was a guest on television's wildly popular Barney and Friends. In addition to the more than two dozen albums she has recorded, Jenkins also authored an illustrated songbook entitled This Is Rhythm, published in 1993. The package included a pair of rhythm sticks to invite children's participation.
For the past 40-years, live performances have been the mainstay of Jenkins's career. Her shows are as special and one-of-a-kind as the artist herself. The ukele and harmonica are her most frequently used instruments, but she is just as likely to appear playing a wooden flute, a tambourine, gourds, drums, cowbells, sticks, a guitar, or even a pipe organ. She is just as likely to greet an American audience in Arabic as she is to greet a French one in Swahili. She might spin a top--one of the hundreds she has collected over the years--on top of her tambourine as she leads the children in a counting chant that will end only when the top ceases to spin. Or she might teach them to yodel, or to sing a song in Polish. Sometimes she dances, using rhythm to teach new languages and new ways of seeing, experiencing, and understanding the world.
Children are not alone in appreciating Jenkins's artistic gifts. Over the years she has been the recipient of numerous awards for helping to unite children of many cultures, and for a lifetime of work in children's education. She has been named "One of Chicago's Living Treasures" and has served as a U.S. delegate to Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, and the former Soviet Union with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
As Moira McCormick said in Billboard, "Kids who've seen Jenkins perform come away singing 'London Bridge' in Japanese, the Hebrew 'Shabbat Shalom,' and many other offerings in various languages. Her ambassadorial skills are legendary, and her continual messages of love and understanding are ever more valuable in a world that is increasingly intolerant to those perceived as outsiders." Never having forgotten the pain of being one of those outsiders, Jenkins's music joyfully celebrates the common bonds that connect us all.
Awards
Named "Honorary Citizen" of Louisville, KY, during The Year of the Child, 1979; Pioneer in Early Television citation, National Museum of American History, 1990; Parent's Choice Award for Come Dance by the Ocean, 1991; Oppenheim Toy Portfolio's Gold Seal Selection for Live! At the Smithsonian, 1992; Ravinia Festival Salute for 25 years of outstanding children's music, 1994; Lifetime Achievement Award, KOHL Education Foundation, 1994; AACE Children's Entertainment Award, 1995; Meritorious Service Award, Cook County Children's Hospital, 1995.
Works
Selective Discography
- Call and Response: Rhythmic Group Singing, Folkways Records, 1957, reissued, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990.
- Adventures in Rhythm, Folkways Records, 1959, reissued, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990.
- Songs and Rhythms from Near and Far, Folkways Records, 1964, reissued, Smithsonian Folkways, 1992.
- You Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song, Folkways Records, 1966.
- And One And Two, Folkways Records, 1971, reissued, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990.
- Growing Up with Ella Jenkins: Rhythms, Songs and Rhymes, Folkways Records, 1976, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990.
- Travellin' with Ella Jenkins: A Bilingual Journey, Folkways Records, 1979, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990.
- Early, Early Childhood Songs, Folkways Records, 1982, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990.
- Come Dance by the Ocean, Smithsonian Folkways, 1991, Smithsonian Folkways, 1992.
- Multicultural Children's Songs, Smithsonian Folkways, 1995.
- Holiday Times, Smithsonian Folkways, 1996.
- This Is Rhythm (songbook), Sing Out! Publications, 1993.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Billboard, October 12, 1996.
- Feminist Bookstore News, November/December, 1996.
- L.A. Parent Magazine, February 1996.
- Michigan Citizen, October 9, 1994, p. B1.
- Parenting Magazine, June/July, 1996.
- School Library Journal, May 1996.
- Washington Post, March 15, 1996, Sec. WW, p.10.
- Additional information for this profile was provided by Smithsonian Folkways, and an interview with Ella Jenkins.
— Gayle Rosengren
