Noble Sissle
Jazz Singer
Jazz pioneer who created the musical Shuffle Along, with the featured song "I'm Just Wild About Harry."
He served in World War I, playing drums and violin for the 369th Regimental Band.
Shuffle Along was not only the earliest Broadway play written by African Americans, but it was also the first to both be about African Americans and to feature them in the cast.
He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and moved to Cleveland, Ohio as a child.
He made his best-known musical in partnership with pianist Eubie Blake; Sissle wrote the lyrics, while Blake composed the music.