Washington ( CNN ) -- When Rosalind Cron left home in the 1940s to join a teenage girl jazz band called the International Sweethearts of Rhythm , she had no idea what it would be like , as a white girl , traveling with the predominantly black band . At the time , Cron said she thought `` Jim Crow '' was a man they were supposed to meet in the South . `` I did n't realize it was a law , and a very strict law -- laws , plural , '' she said . State and local ordinances that mandated separate public facilities for blacks and whites made it illegal for Cron to share facilities with her band members . Cron felt the discrimination because she lived on their tour bus with the other girls , hiding her race . For three years , she said , they were like her sisters . She spent several hours in jail in El Paso , Texas , in 1944 when authorities did n't believe the story she had made up that her father was white and her mother was black . `` They went though my wallet and there was a picture of my mother and dad right in front of the house , '' she said . She was sprung a few hours later when the band 's manager brought two black girls to the jail who claimed to be Cron 's cousins . By that time , according to Cron , the authorities that were holding her were glad to get rid of her . `` They just told us never to return . And as far as I know , we did n't , '' she said . The risks were worth it to play her saxophone with what became known as the nation 's first integrated , female jazz band . The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were founded at Piney Woods School in Mississippi in 1937 , in part as a way for the students to help pay for their education . They recruited members of different races to help with the `` international '' part of their image . Willie Mae Wong had a Chinese father , a mixed-race mother , and no visible musical skills when she was recruited to the group as a 15-year-old . She was out on the street playing stickball when they picked her up . `` The director of the music was named White , '' Wong said . `` They called me 'White 's Rabbit ' because he had to spend more time with me to teach me the beat . '' The name `` Rabbit '' has stuck to this day . In 1941 , the group separated from the school and went professional . They traveled on a bus to gigs across the United States , including venues like the Apollo Theater in New York and the Howard Theater in Washington . During World War II , the Sweethearts traveled to France and Germany as part of a USO tour in 1945 . Pictures and mementos from the International Sweethearts of Rhythm are on display at the Smithsonian 's American History museum for their 10th annual Jazz Appreciation Month celebration in April . Six members of the band were in Washington this week to reminisce . `` It was a privilege to come from Mississippi and go and see the other parts of the world , '' said Helen Jones , who played the trombone from the band 's founding until it disbanded . `` All I ever wanted to do was play a trumpet , '' Sadye Pankey told a group gathered at the museum . And as for music education today , she feels bad for today 's students . `` Some of our schools in our country now have abolished the music , and it 's not fair , '' she said . Cron told the group that if music is your passion , you need to stick with it . `` Do n't let anyone come between you and your horns , or music , '' she added .
The Sweethearts of Rhythm toured in the U.S. and Europe in the Big Band Era . Saxophonist Dorothy Cron was the only white girl in the band . In the 1940s , Jim Crow laws kept Cron from sharing facilities with her bandmates . Band recruited other races to help with ` ` international '' part of their image .