James Reese Europe's 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band

James Reese Europe was born in Mobile, Alabama on February 22, 1880. Hoping to find opportunities not available to southern Blacks, Europe's father moved the family to Washington, D.C. James revealed an early penchant for leadership as well as music, studying violin with an assistant conductor of the United States Marine Band. When his father died suddenly in 1899, Europe's older brother John relocated to New York City to work as a pianist in that city's burgeoning Black musical scene. James followed him in early 1904, continuing his musical studies and eventually becoming a c...