A Tribute to Ella Jenkins August 6, 1924 – November 9, 2024 ❣️

As a children's librarian, I was massively influenced by Ms Jenkins.

Percussion provided by rhythm speaker Ms Jan Jeffries and shekere mama Ms Marcy Francis live in Baby Wordplay theater, Philadelphia 2017

Ella Jenkins laid the groundwork for the field of children’s music and inspired generations of children’s music leaders who have followed in her footsteps.

Ms Jenkins was born to an African-American working class family in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 6, 1924. Her family moved to Chicago and Ms Jenkins grew up on the city’s South Side, moving frequently to get to a more “uptown” neighborhood.

Her family and neighborhood life provided the basis of her musical education—each move allowed Jenkins to experience the rhythms, rhymes, and games which could be different even if only a few blocks apart.

She was fascinated by her Uncle Flood, who played the harmonica, and alongside him she would tease out rhythms on oatmeal boxes, wastebaskets, and cooking pots.

“I was naturally rhythmic,” she stated, “and would try to copy my uncle’s sounds by whistling. But my mother did not like it, saying good women and young girls did not whistle.”

Yet it was her mother who took her to the music store to purchase her first harmonica. Her brother taught her songs he learned at summer camps.

Jenkins’ work draws on African-American call and response singing—she cites Cab Calloway as an early influence.

Her re-popularization of game songs from her youth like “Miss Mary Mack” and “One Potato, Two Potato” couples basic chants and movement rescued from the folklore of American play, game songs, and ring chants.

Her original songs, like “Stop and Go” and “Play Your Instruments,” are direct results of her absorption of those traditions.

Jenkins is one of only 12 persons to be recognized as a Legacy Honoree of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage.