Black History Today 2024: Josephine Howell, turning life’s joys and trials into beautiful music

Black History Today, created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and beyond and recognizes the people among us who are boldly shaping the future.

“Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song ”

— Roberta Flack, “Killing Me Softly"

By Marcus Harden

Music is one of the few sensations that activates nearly 100% of the brain. It is oftentimes the soundtrack to our lives, and we remember the songs that have accompanied seminal and defining moments to us – times of triumph and times of trials, celebrating birthdays and weddings, gathering together for funerals, and even buckled in on those fantastic road trips and family vacations.

Pair music with a songstress who knows both triumph and trials, an artist not only on the stage but in creating and defining her life, and you get Josephine Howell. Born in the 2nd city – Chicago! – this songbird has been wowing people with her gifts since a young age. She is a true “throwback” to the era of well-rounded entertainers, and whether singing, dancing or acting, her presence on the stage and in any room is captivating.

Josephine radiates the essence of whatever piece of art she touches. Her voice allows you to ride every thought, emotion and melody as she tells a story using her God-given instrument to not only tell the story, but to give her audiences a chance to feel the story. Yet, Josephine the artist pales in comparison to “Josie,” the woman.

As a mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, Josie has used her art and artistry as her anchor and her compass to weave the tapestry of her life, and she has found a way to transform her greatest hardships into her greatest achievements. Whether being a wonderful mother to 13 children, winning a lengthy battle against COVID, or fighting any of the quiet demons we all face, Josie finds a way to not only transform her test into beautiful testimony, but to then infuse her art with the pain and joy and lessons of her journey, allowing her to share it all with the rest of the world.

To watch her on stages across the country is one thing, but to sit across from her at the family dinner table as she truly opens her heart to any and everyone – as she personifies grace, humility and wisdom – you realize that the gift of loving connection may be her greatest gift of all. While not necessarily unsung or unheralded, she is definitely unrecognized as a true local treasure in her adopted home of the Emerald City, Seattle.

St. Augustine once famously quipped, “He who sings, prays twice.” If that is indeed true, than Jospehine Howell not only prays twice, but her heavenly melodies go straight to God’s ears as a blessing to all of us. Josephine Howell is a songstress and a true artist, and she is proof that prayer, perseverance and love do endure and win. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Josephine Howell is Black History Today!