• Tom Wiggins was the first African American to give a command performance at the White House when he played piano for President James Buchanan in 1860. Higgins was born into slavery in 1849 in Harris County, Georgia. Blind from birth, he developed an incredible ability to mimic sounds and learned to play the piano by ear. By the age of five, he reportedly began composing his own music and by eight, he was touring the United States as one of the most financially successful American pianists of the 19th century. During his childhood, Tom Wiggins and his parents were enslaved by General James McNeil Bethune. Even after Emancipation, Bethune’s son John managed Tom’s career and took his substantial profits for himself - extending Wiggins’ enslavement under the guise of theatrical management. Wiggins died from a stroke in 1908 at the age of 59. The first major full-length biography about him, “The Ballad of Blind Tom,” was written by Deidre O’Connell and published in 2009. Several of Wiggins’ compositions were transcribed by others and survive in print. Photo: Cover of “Songs, Sketch of the Life, of Blind Tom, The Marvelous Musical Prodigy,” ca. 1876 From the Musicians Collection @ Harry Ransom Center.
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    Tom Wiggins was the first African American to give a command performance at the White House when he played piano for President James Buchanan in 1860. Higgins was born into slavery in 1849 in Harris County, Georgia. Blind from birth, he developed an incredible ability to mimic sounds and learned to play the piano by ear. By the age of five, he reportedly began composing his own music and by eight, he was touring the United States as one of the most financially successful American pianists of the 19th century. During his childhood, Tom Wiggins and his parents were enslaved by General James McNeil Bethune. Even after Emancipation, Bethune’s son John managed Tom’s career and took his substantial profits for himself - extending Wiggins’ enslavement under the guise of theatrical management. Wiggins died from a stroke in 1908 at the age of 59. The first major full-length biography about him, “The Ballad of Blind Tom,” was written by Deidre O’Connell and published in 2009. Several of Wiggins’ compositions were transcribed by others and survive in print. Photo: Cover of “Songs, Sketch of the Life, of Blind Tom, The Marvelous Musical Prodigy,” ca. 1876 From the Musicians Collection @ Harry Ransom Center.