Tom Turpin

Thomas Million John Turpin (November 18, 1871(?) – August 13, 1922) was an American composer of ragtime music. Turpin is credited with the first published rag by an African American, his "Harlem Rag" of 1897 (although it was composed by 1892, a year before ragtime's introduction to the world at the 1893 World's Fair).