This is a fine ragtime t-shirt! The design was carefully and faithfully taken from the original sheet music for Scott Joplin's famous song Maple Leaf Rag.
Published in 1899 in Sedalia, Missouri, Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” helped turn ragtime into a national sensation! The song was named for the town’s Maple Leaf Club, a Black social club where Joplin performed. The piano pared with a marchig bass made a playful beat that caught fire around the nation, and earned Joplin a one-cent royalty on every copy sold -- making him one of the earliest black superstars.







