![thesmithian:
[founder of FAMU Marching 100] William P. Foster, RIP
He enrolled at the University of Kansas “to get a good education” and when segregation prevented him from fully participating, Foster held his “head high” and “worked toward the next achievement,” he told the Wichita Eagle in 2006 … After receiving his bachelor’s degree in music education, he earned a master’s in 1950 from Wayne State University in Detroit and a doctorate in 1955 from the Teachers College at Columbia University … He directed high school and college bands, including at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, before joining Florida A&M University … When he formed the Marching 100, he coined the name as a goal for membership, and the band continues to use the name even though it has grown to more than 400 members … He directed the McDonald’s All-American High School Band for a dozen years beginning in 1980 … He also wrote two books, “Band Pageantry” (1968), which was widely used as a handbook to his distinct style, and a memoir, “The Man Behind the Baton,” published after he retired in 1998 … Band members called their charismatic director “the Law,” because he wanted them to do it his way or not at all.
#shoutout to Drumline.
via negrophile](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l84xaeftFb1qcwnv4o1_400.jpg)
[founder of FAMU Marching 100] William P. Foster, RIP
He enrolled at the University of Kansas “to get a good education” and when segregation prevented him from fully participating, Foster held his “head high” and “worked toward the next achievement,” he told the Wichita Eagle in 2006 … After receiving his bachelor’s degree in music education, he earned a master’s in 1950 from Wayne State University in Detroit and a doctorate in 1955 from the Teachers College at Columbia University … He directed high school and college bands, including at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, before joining Florida A&M University … When he formed the Marching 100, he coined the name as a goal for membership, and the band continues to use the name even though it has grown to more than 400 members … He directed the McDonald’s All-American High School Band for a dozen years beginning in 1980 … He also wrote two books, “Band Pageantry” (1968), which was widely used as a handbook to his distinct style, and a memoir, “The Man Behind the Baton,” published after he retired in 1998 … Band members called their charismatic director “the Law,” because he wanted them to do it his way or not at all.
#shoutout to Drumline.
via negrophile
