When I realized that all of the Teachers had named their classrooms I had fun reading the name of each and every room. One of the names I did not understand was Ms. Hughes's, which was named Jester Hairston. When I asked her who he/she was, she told me to write a blog post about him. No one can say I don't listen.

        Jester Hairston lived from 1902-2000, and was a famous choral director and actor. He went to college via a scholarship given by his Baptist church to study Landscape Architecture. After dropping out of college due to a lack of funds, a wealthy woman sponsored him after being impressed by his voice. He graduated Tufts University in 1929. His original character choices caused criticism as his characters were seen as representing racial stereotypes. He responded to these criticisms by replying that he took these roles in the hope that he could acquire better roles in the future for himself and future African-American actors.

        Russian conductor/composer Dimitri Tiomkin asked him to conduct the Choir for the film lost horizon in 1936. This film went on to win an Oscar for best score. Jester Hairston went on to direct choruses for several other films. He died in Los Angeles, January 18th, 2000.

http://www.umass.edu/chronicle/archives/00/01-28/Hairston18.html