BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AN AFRICAN AMERICAN GENIUS- IN THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

Joplin moved to St Louis in 1901 where he continued to compose and publish music and regularly performed in brothels and bars in the city red light district. By the time he had moved to St Louis he may have been experiencing discordant of the fingers, tremors and an inability to speak clearly as a result of having contracted syphilis. The score to his first opera  " A guest of Honor " was confiscated in 1903 with his belonging owing to his non-payment of bills and is considered lost. He  continued to compose and published music and in 1907 he moved to New York City seeking to find a producer for a new form which made him famous ith the much monetary success. His second Opera " Tree Monisha " was not received well at its partially staged performance in 1915. In 1916 suffering from tertiary  syphilis and be consequence rpidly deteriorating health.

Joplin descended into dementia. He was admitted to a mental institution in January 1917 and died there three months later at the age of 49 years. Joplin music wad rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970's with the release of a million selling album of Joplin rags recorded by Joshua Rifkin followed by the Academy Award Winning Movie " The Sting " which featured several of his compositions, such as " The Entertainer ". The acclaim in 1972. In 1975 Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.