Music like Daniel F

Daniel F. Desdunes (c.1870 – April 24, 1929) was a civil rights activist and musician in New Orleans and Omaha. In 1892, he volunteered to board a train car designated for whites in violation of the 1890 Separate Car Act to allow New Orleans civil rights activist involved in the Comité des Citoyens to challenge the law in the courts. The train he boarded was an inter-state train, and it was found the law did not apply in this case. Shortly later, another member of the Comité des Citoyens, Homer Plessy, boarded an intrastate train leading to the case, Plessy vs Ferguson. Desduens became a musician, directing bands, orchestras, and minstrel shows and playing many instruments, including the coronet, the violin, the baritone horn, and the trombone. He was known for many styles, including minstrel, ragtime, jazz, gospel, classical, and marching. He performed under the direction of Perry George Lowery in the P. T. Wright led Nashville Students and under Harry Prampin in Lash E. Gideon's Grand Afro American Mastodon Minstrels and Gideons Big Minstrel Carnival. In 1904 he moved to Omaha where his band became a fixture in civic life and he also led the Boys Town Band at Father Flanagan's Boys Town. He was described as the "father of negro musicians of Omaha" in Harrison J. Pinkett's 1937 manuscript, "An Historical Sketch of the Omaha Negro."