Kentucky Choir
(start date: 1927)The Kentucky Choir was made up of men from the 369th Colored Infantry (also known as the Harlem Hellfighters), a unit of the New York National Guard. Commanded by Colonel Arthur Little, Sr., the 369th was the first to reach the Rhine in 1918 during World War I.
In 1927, Colonel Little's wife, Mrs. Charlotte Fairchild Little, passed away; four members of the Kentucky Choir and Noble Sissle provided music at the funeral. Noble Sissle was the son of Kentuckians George A. and Martha A. Sissle.
For more see "Sing Negro Spirituals at Mrs. Little's bier," New York Times, 9/9/1927, p. 25; "How the WWI Harlem Hellfighters Fought the Germans and Introduced Jazz to the French" at The Dallas Morning News website; and Charlotte Fairchild, at Broadway Photographs.