Neighborhood drill teams and drum squads are common in African-American communities throughout the United States, but entire community-based bands are quite rare indeed. One of the few is the Exo’s Drill Team and Band from Alexandria, Louisiana, who are frequently seen in the Grambling Homecoming Parade each year.
Parades
Byhalia High School Band in the Grambling Homecoming Parade 2012
The Byhalia High School Marching Band from Byhalia, Mississippi marches in the Grambling Homecoming Parade, 10/20/12
Shreveport’s Booker T. Washington High School Band in the GSU Homecoming Parade 2012
Shreveport’s Booker T. Washington High School Band marches in the Grambling Homecoming Parade, 10/20/12
Huntington High School Band, Grambling Homecoming Parade 2012
The Huntington High School band from Shreveport, Louisiana marches in the Grambling Homecoming Parade on 10/20/12
Lancaster (TX) High School Band at Grambling Homecoming 2012
The Lancaster TX High School marching band at Grambling, 10/20/12 (at The CainGang Cafe)
The Star Steppers Marching Majorettes and Drummers in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012
The Star Steppers Marching Majorettes and Drummers march in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade, Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Cowborettes Majorettes and Drummers, Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012
#148 Cowborettes Majorettes and Drumline (by jdoggtn7)
The Cowborettes Majorettes and Drumline march in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Cowborettes Majorettes and Drummers in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012, Memphis
The Cowborettes Majorettes and Drummers march in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12
Memphis Manassas High School Band in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade 2012
Manassas High School in North Memphis is the second-oldest Black high school in Memphis (it was originally a county school, as it was outside the city limits of Memphis). It has a long tradition of excellent music which began when Jimmie Lunceford was hired to be the band director of the school. Lunceford would go on to fame and fortune in the world of big band jazz, along with one of his former students, drummer Jimmy Crawford. Great Memphis musicians such as Emerson Able, Isaac Hayes and Howard Grimes attended Manassas High, and although the school has suffered from low enrollment in recent years, its football program was recently featured in a documentary called Undefeated. Here the Manassas High band marches in the Southern Heritage Classic Parade in Orange Mound, Memphis TN, 9/8/12