Born Ernest Rueben Crowdus on April 17, 1865, in the Shake Rag District of Bowling Green, KY, Hogan took his initial musical influences from a number of genres including Jazz, Blues, and Vaudeville performers who traveled through the region as riverboat and railroad workers. In 1877, at age 12, he left Kentucky to sing in minstrel shows. Hogan became a prominent songwriter and, in 1895, wrote “La Pas Ma La” and promoted it as the first published ragtime song.
The story of Ernest Hogan is one of complicated success. While Hogan overcame social and musical boundaries as an African American, elevating black music to a wider, more national audience, he did so by perpetuating many harmful stereotypes that African Americans are still working against today. Much of the music that furthered Hogan’s career utilized derogatory themes that many activists at the time denounced. Although he became the first black man to produce a show on Broadway, he came to regret the stereotypical themes utilized in his works.