Summarized from Jazz on the River, by William Howland Kenney (2005), pp. 107-108:
- 1896: The American Federation of Musicians is founded with forty-four local unions. Local #44 is the Black musicians’ union in St. Louis, Missouri. For three decades Local 44 prospers, with Black musicians playing the venues that white musicians didn’t want: dance halls, nightclubs, and riverboats.
- 1927: With the end of silent movies, the white musicians who formerly played in movie theatres lose those jobs and begin moving in on the riverboat jobs, throwing Black musicians out of work.
- 1929: With the Depression, white musicians lose most of their other jobs playing vaudeville, stage shows, opera houses, and concert halls.
- 1930: The A.F.M. revokes Local 44’s charter, making it impossible for Black musicians to negotiate for contracts playing on the riverboats. Subsequently, three-quarters of the remaining riverboat jobs go to white musicians, leaving most Black musicians playing in marginal venues for non-union wages. Similar stories played out in cities across the nation.
- 1944: the A.F.M. finally charters a new union for Black musicians in St. Louis, Local 197.
- 1971: Local 197 is dissolved when the St. Louis musicians’ union is finally integrated.