Black Swan Records, the first notable black-owned and operated record company in Harlem, opens with partial backing of Du Bois and Bert Williams, then one of the most popular Black vaudeville performers in the country. Their first major hit maker was Ethel Waters, whose manager negotiated a dealt to make her purportedly the best paid black female artist a the time. The recording of her singing “Down Home Blues” is from her early recordings with the label.
