When Life Gives You Lemons: A Reconstructed Biography of John Cleveland Lemons

The founder of the Columbus branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians hosted the fourth annual convention of the organization, encouraging the perception that “there are more colored musicians in Columbus than in most cities.”¹ In an interview, he stated that he and his branch were “anxious for the musicians of the country to realize that Columbus really appreciates them and the great work which the association is doing for the race”. J. Cleveland Lemons was a 1910 graduate of the Washington Conservatory of Music, and did his alma mater proud in his musical contributions to his community of Columbus, Ohio.²

J. Cleveland Lemons was born in Washington, DC, on December 20, 1886.³ He graduated from first to second year in the Business course at Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington, DC,⁴ and went on to work as a music teacher in Columbus, Ohio.⁵ Here, he was married to Lula P. Lemons in 1909.⁶ He then went back to Washington D.C. to graduate from the Teacher’s course in piano and theory at the Washington Conservatory of Music.⁷ The first World War began and ended when he was back in Ohio, and his registration card tells us he was a private in the infantry branch of the army for 2 years.⁸ By 1920 he was listed as a music teacher.⁹ At this time, Lula P. (Thaxton) Lemons had started going by her middle name, Pearl. Lemons would list himself as a music teacher in Census records from 1910 to 1940, and specifically taught the organ, piano, and voice until at least 1943, listing them in various combinations as the years passed.¹⁰ He lived with his wife, Pearl, in Columbus for many more years, until his death on May 14, 1965.¹¹ Throughout his life, he played at many concerts and events, including one program put on in order to build funding for the Presbyterian Church AME in Columbus in 1952.¹² He played multiple pieces on the organ.

Lemons rarely (if ever) lived with just his wife. Typically, he also had borders, roomers, or lodgers living with them, too. This began in 1910 when they lived with Walker W. William, a lodger.¹³ In 1920, they switched to rooming George Clarke.¹⁴ They also housed some children. 1930 saw them rooming Dewey Murphy and boarding Otts (Otis) Waller who was just 12 years old.¹⁵ In 1940 they lodged two children, Floyd Price and Raymond Penrose.¹⁶ The last available US Census is from 1950, and shows them they lived with Helen J. Fleming, who is just labeled as having no relationship to J. Cleveland Lemons.¹⁷ It’s unclear whether any of the above people were related to the Lemons family in any familial sense (particularly the children) or if they were renting rooms from them.

A large part of his life began in 1920 when Lemons organized a branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians, then named the National Association of Colored American Artists and Musicians.¹⁸ He acted as president for many years, hosting the fourth annual convention of the organization in the summer of 1922.¹⁹ He performed for the organization during that three day convention as well. He tacked a ‘professor’ onto his name later in life, during his time as president. He performed at a NANM program on the organ in 1943, the purpose of which was to encourage racial uplift for black people across America.²⁰ His wife, Pearl, would end up joining him in working with NANM, working on the Program Committee.²¹ It’s unclear when he resigned from his presidency, but he remained in the position until at least the September of 1927.²²

His father-in-law, Thomas Thaxton, passed on April 27th of 1946.²³ Both him and his wife passed at 77 years old, on May 14th, 1965.²⁴ and August 19th, 1968 respectively.²⁵ Sadly, research did not yield any information on John Cleveland Lemons’ family, nor the family of Pearl (Thaxton) Lemons. It doesn’t appear that they had any children, and siblings or parents of the couple remained hidden in the past (excluding the obituary of Pearl Lemon’s father).

After John Cleveland Lemons graduated from the Washington Conservatory of Music, he went on to uplift his community in Cleveland, Ohio. He was one of few graduates that didn’t remain in Washington, DC, so it was especially interesting to see how he affected areas further west. As a president and founder of a branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians, he was an instrumental part to the black racial uplift that many black Americans were pushing for. His classical performances and religious efforts further added to this, and his work as a teacher surely inspired many children to continue his musical work.