Harry Pace Founds Black Swan Records—First Black-Owned Label

Harry Pace, a Covington, Georgia native and former business partner of W.C. Handy, founded Black Swan Records in Harlem in May 1921—the first Black-owned and operated record company in the United States. Named after opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield ('The Black Swan'), the label launched careers of Ethel Waters, Fletcher Henderson, and William Grant Still. It declared bankruptcy in December 1923 and was acquired by Paramount.