Remembering Ella Jenkins, Luminary in Children's Music, 1924-2024
We mourn the passing of Ella Jenkins, one of the most iconic folk musicians of the 20th century, who revolutionized children’s music with her “call and response” chants and songs and educated, charmed, and empowered generations of listeners around the world. She died peacefully on Saturday, November 9, at her residence in Chicago, Illinois. She was 100 years old.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 6, 1924, Ella grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Over seven decades, she was a prolific performer, educator, composer, and recording artist, producing 39 albums on Folkways Records and Smithsonian Folkways. Drawing on her own history of civil rights activism in the 1940s and 1950s, Ella used music as a tool for social activism. Through songs and rhythms that extolled values of antiracism, cultural pluralism, and environmentalism, she drew people together, challenging them to listen deeply to one another.
