Frederick Bruce Thomas: an extraordinary character’s tribulations
Author: Rinaldo Tomaselli
Frederick Thomas was an African-American from Mississippi who made a fortune in Tsarist Russia and Constantinople. He was known as the Black Russian or Jazz Sultan.
Born June 12th, 1872 in Coahoma, Mississippi, United States of America and died June 12th, 1928 in Constantinople, Turkish Republic.
Frederick’s parents Hannah and Lewis were freed slaves who owned a small property near the border with Louisiana. In 1886, a white planter took over their land. Against all odds, the Thomas family sued the planter and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour.
At the time, it was inconceivable that black people could win a case against a white man. The white planter appealed and, under threat, in 1890 the Thomas family decided to leave Mississippi and settle in Memphis. In unclear circumstances Frederick’s father, Lewis, was murdered, and the family broke up.
Frederick decided to go to Chicago where tensions and injustices towards African-Americans were less frequent than in the Deep South. In search of more freedom, he embarked for Europe in 1894. He travelled in several countries, learned French and finally was hired as a valet by a wealthy family and went with them to Moscow in 1899.
Frederick Thomas - Wikipedia
In Moscow, he worked for ten years as a waiter, a butler and a valet, before becoming assistant to the owner of Yar, the city's most prominent café-theatre. The Sokolovsky gypsy choir performed there on a regular basis and their songs about their years as slaves reminded him of his own people’s story. The café was frequented by the bourgeoisie of Moscow and Frederick Thomas became the darling of the wealthy clientele. By 1911 he had earned enough money to open an entertainment garden with the help of two Russian partners that was soon to become very popular. In 1912, he rented a music venue in the city centre called "Maxim" which very quickly became popular with Muscovites.
Frederick Thomas blossomed in Moscow. He obtained Russian citizenship, was married three times and had five children. Around 1914, he bought a dacha near Odessa and he also owned buildings in Moscow. Now it was clear for all to see: the African-American immigrant from Mississippi, the son of slaves, had made a fortune in Russia.
A dramatic political event was to put a stop to Frederick Thomas's success within the Moscow nightlife business. In 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution broke out and the American, being wealthy and successful, had to flee. He went to Odessa, but the city was evacuated in April 1919 by the French and British forces allied to the White Army. He managed to embark with his wife Elvira, his children and other refugees on the Russian ship "Emperor Nicholas" bound for Constantinople. Arriving in the Ottoman capital, he hastened to the American embassy to seek help, or even repatriation to the United States. Officials at the embassy refused to recognize his American nationality and therefore refused to help him; his skin colour undoubtedly played a decisive role in this.
Having lost all his wealth, Frederick Thomas started to do business again in Constantinople, like many Russian refugees. After three months, he opened "Stella", a dance garden in Şişli where fashionable bands played. Thanks to his new establishment’s success, he rented the basement of the Magic cinema with gardens in Pera in 1921, and transformed it into a jazz and night club, but to do so, he fell into heavy debt. He named it "Maxim" in memory of Maxim in Moscow which had allowed him to start his career in the entertainment world. On the verge of bankruptcy, business at last started to pick up and jazz and Charleston became fashionable. In 1920s Turkey, despite the economic downturns and political crisis, Frederick Thomas succeeded in making his establishment the most popular place in the city. All those who remained of the Stanbuliot bourgeoisie used to hurry to listen to jazz, introduced into the moribund Ottoman Empire by Thomas. He was thus called "Jazz Sultan". The English and French soldiers who were occupying the capital also frequented Maxim and greatly contributed to its triumph.
However good fortune was to be short-lived and during the first years of the Republic, business began to decline. Foreigners and a large part of the bourgeoisie had left the city, while embassies and their staff began to be transferred to the new capital, Ankara. Frederick Thomas plunged into debt. Unable to pay his creditors, they had him put in jail and seized his nightclub, which they renamed "Yeni Maksim".
Frederick Thomas was never to recover. He fell ill and after a few weeks in hospital, died on July 12th, 1928 at Pasteur Hospital in Taksim.
Forgotten by the Americans, Russians, Stanbuliots and all those he had entertained throughout Europe, Frederick Bruce Thomas was laid to rest at the Protestant Feriköy Cemetery. Today, his descendants live in France.
FORMIdea London, 17th July 2018 | ©form-idea.com
Translated from French by Pierre Scordia & Annie Clein.
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Yar Restaurant in Moscow
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