From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Gentry Sparks was enumerated in the 1910 US Census as a boarder living with the Tuyman family in Wilmore, KY. Gentry was working as a news boy. By 1915, he had changed the spelling of his name to Gentry McSparks and was living in Lexington, KY. He was an actor in the play The Captain of Plymouth, the title is part of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish." The play was presented at the Lexington Opera House during commencement exercises for the Fayette County Colored Schools. 

Gentry McSparks was an actor, poet, author, music composer, poetic reader, singer, playwright, businessman, and a dreamer. He promoted and sold his work via notices in the Colored Notes sections of the Lexington, KY, newspapers. Gentry was the son of William Sparks and Alice Burks. He was born in Keene, Jessamine County, KY, and sometimes referred to himself as Gentry McSparks, Jr.

His marriage certificate was issued in the name of Gentry Sparks. He was the husband of Dorothy Garrett. The marriage took place on July 21, 1917, in Newport, KY. The couple gave their birth locations as Lexington, KY, and their residence as Xenia, OH. Gentry was employed as a chauffeur. When the U.S. Census was taken in January of 1920, Gentry Sparks was enumerated as single, living in Lexington, KY, and employed as a house man for the Bailey D. Berry family.  

Throughout the year 1920, Gentry McSparks wrote both books and music compositions. He wrote and published the book Popular Compositions in Lexington, KY. The book cost $1 and could be purchased from McSparks. [A copy of the title is in the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.] McSparks also wrote and composed the song "Those Eagle Rocking Blues." The sheet music for piano sold for 25 cents and copies of the fine orchestra version sold for 50 cents. There were also phonograph records of the song. All could be purchased directly from Gentry McSparks at 424 Chestnut Street in Lexington, as stated in the Colored Notes sections of the Lexington newspapers. 

McSparks was also affiliated with the Lexington Jazz Club in 1920, at 339 E. 2nd Street in Lexington, KY. The Jazz Club had previously performed at the Waiters' Alliance Club. In April of 1921, Mc Sparks gave a free lecture at the Waiters' Alliance Club. The subject was "An Unlucky Family." In August of 1921, it was announced in the Colored Notes that McSparks and two others would be leaving Lexington for Cleveland, OH, and Canada. It is not known if they ever left, but at the end of the year, McSparks was living in Lexington. 

It is not known how many books or how many music compositions Gentry McSparks wrote. Starting in January of 1922, it was announced in the newspaper that McSparks was writing another book. In February, it was announced that he was writing a novel. The January title was to be From Clarence Mack to McDonald. The February title was to be How To Love A Lady. Copies of the titles have not been located at this time. Writing was not McSparks sole source of income, he was also employed as a chauffeur and was the elected vice president of the Chauffeur's Club No. 2221 in January of 1922. George T. Jones had been president of the club and Andrew B. Chenault was the recording secretary.

Gentry McSparks' other employment was as an entertainer. In June of 1922, he and McDonald Elkins entertained the Rosheren Club at the Waiters' Alliance Club in Lexington. Two months later, Gentry McSparks announced again that he was leaving Lexington. The notice was written as a poem in the Colored Notes section of the Lexington Leader. This was followed by an October announcement that McSparks had written a new song, "We'll Win the Game." Copies of the sheet music could be purchased for 25 cents at McSparks' Lexington address. In November, McSparks placed a notice in the Colored Notes stating that he had sold the copyright to the song and had no more copies. At the end of December 1922, McSparks gave an entertainment at Shilo Baptist Church in Lexington.

Three years later, in August of 1925, McSparks was again selling sheet music copies of his song "We'll Win the Game." He was a student at Wilberforce University and talked of building a publishing house when finished with his courses. The following month, there was another advertisement in the Colored Notes. Gentry Mc Sparks had written the song "What Do I Want With a Wife?" There was a slight change to the spelling of his last name. In the newspaper ad, it was said that his song was written at the request of the Wilberforce Quartette, and Gentry Mc Sparks would be returning to Wilberforce in October. In May of 1926, McSparks placed another ad in the Colored Notes encouraging the purchase of his songs with the promise of a free song when he finished college.

There continued to be poems, notices, and ads in the Colored Notes section of the Lexington newspapers in reference to Gentry McSparks' works, entertainments, and his intention to purchase a house. In June of 1929, it was announced that McSparks was writing for the African American newspaper Lexington Post and he was an agent for the newspaper. His compositions were to appear under the newspaper heading "High Lights of Negro History." In February of 1930, McSparks appeared in his stage act "The Drunkard," performed at the Community Hall in Lexington. In April of 1930, McSparks was one of the competitors in the all-male solo contest held at Pleasant Green Baptist Church in Lexington. 

In December of 1932, Gentry McSparks announced that he was leaving Lexington to study music in New York. Two years later, June 27, 1934, Gentry McSparks composed the song "Work, Whistle, and Sing." Leon De Costa wrote the melody. The song is listed in the Catalog of Copyright Entries. The following year McSparks was back in Lexington and had planned to visit New York but canceled due to his health and a lack of funds.

By 1937, McSparks was living in New York and continued to place ads and notices in the Colored Notes section of the Lexington, KY, newspapers. In one of the ads, McSparks referred to his title "Louise, I Saw a Ghost" as his true story. The story sold for 28 cents and orders were to be requested at his address, 251 West 134th Street, New York City, NY.  In 1938 Gentry McSparks' mother, Alice Burks, died in Keene, KY. She was survived by Gentry and his sister Mrs. Ella Howard, and their brothers Robert Scott in Toledo, OH, and George Lee Canada in Cincinnati, OH, and there were 11 grandchildren. 

Gentry McSparks remained in New York and placed his last notice in the Lexington Colored Notes in 1943. He was asking people in Lexington to write to him, and he let them know that he would be coming home for Christmas. McSparks was employed as an apartment building janitor in New York City, NY, when he died from tuberculosis in 1945 at the Sea View Hospital. Gentry McSparks is buried in City Cemetery at Harts Island on Long Island Sound in New York. Source: New York Index to Death Certificates (Ancestry). 

Sources: "The Commencement exercises ...." Lexington Leader, 01 June 1915, p.5; see the 1917 marriage certificate of Gentry Sparks and Dorothy Garrett, Campbell County, KY, in Ancestry; see Dorothy G. Sparks in "Licensed in Newport." The Kentucky Post, 27 November 1917, p.2; Popular Compositions by Gentry McSparks, 1920; "Read Gentry's Book" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 22 April 1920, p.2; "Gentry Mc Sparks" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 30 April 1921, p.2; "Gentry McSparks" in "Colored News Notes." Lexington Herald, 16 August 1921, p.9; "Gentry McSparks" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 03 January 1922, p.2. 

Sources: "The Chauffeur's Club No. 2221" in "Colored News Notes." The Lexington Herald, 06 January 1922, p.14; "Those Eagle Rocking Blues" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 16 January 1922, p.2; "Do you want a phonograph record of Those Eagle Rocking Blues" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 24 January 1922, p.2; "Gentry McSparks" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 18 June 1922, p.15; "I Don't Know" in "Colored Notes." Lexington Leader, 27 August 1922, p.10; "School Boy" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 01 October 1922, p.2.

Sources: "Football" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 30 August 1925, p.15; "What do I want with a wife" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 06 September 1925, p.13; "Genty McSparks" in "Colored Notes." Lexington Leader, 23 May 1926, p.27; "Gentry McSparks" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 03 November 1929, p.2; "Gentry McSparks" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Leader, 13 February 1930, p.16; "The following persons will compete ..." in "Colored Notes." Lexington Herald, 02 April 1930, p.13.

Sources: "Gentry McSparks" in "Colored Notes." Lexington Herald, 12 December 1932, p.8; see Gentry McSparks in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3, Musical Compositions, New Series, Volume 29, Part 1, First Half of 1934, No.s 1-8, p.623; "Louise, I saw a ghost" in "Colored Notes." Sunday Herald-Leader, 14 November 1937, p.31; see Mrs. Alice Burks' death notice in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Herald, 28 May 1938, p.10; "Hello everybody!" in "Colored Notes." The Lexington Herald, 21 December 1943, p.7.

* This entry was suggested by Deirdre Scaggs, Associate Dean for Research and Discovery, University of Kentucky Libraries. Also, provided some of the sources and the Gentry McSparks book Popular Compositions.