People, Locations, Episodes

Black History and Dance in America, a story

*This date is dedicated to African American Dance. Africans brought their dances to North and South America, and the Caribbean Islands as slave labor starting in the 1500s. The dance styles of hundreds of African ethnic groups merged with European dances, forming the extension of the African aesthetic in the Americas. Dance has always been an integral part of daily life in Africa. In the Americas, it helped enslaved Africans connect with their homeland keeping their cultural traditions alive.

Saint George Boulogne, Musician, and Composer born

Joseph Boulogne “Chevalier de Saint-Georges” was born on Christmas Day, 1745. He was an African French classical music conductor, composer, musician, and military officer.

Scipio Moorhead, Artist, and Engraver born

*The birth of Scipio Moorhead around 1750 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black portrait engraver.

Joshua Johnson, Portrait Artist born

*The birth of Joshua Johnson in c.1763 is celebrated on this date.  He was a Black artist (painter). Joshua Johnson was from the Baltimore area and had African and white-European ancestry. The son of George Johnson, a white man, and a black slave woman whose name was undocumented.  His father purchased his son from his mother’s owner for 25 […]

Saartjie Baartman, Objectified African Woman born

*The birth of Saartjie Baartman in 1789 is celebrated on this date. She was a South African entertainer and objectified Black woman.

David Bowser, Portrait Artist born

*David Bowser was born on this date in 1820.   He was a Black ornamental artist and portraitist.   Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, David Bustill Bowser was a grandson of Cyrus Bustill, a former slave who purchased his freedom and went on to become a founding member of Philadelphia’s Free African Society, and a son of oyster house proprietor Jeremiah Bowser, whose freedom […]

Frederic Bartholdi, Artist, and Sculptor born

*Frederic Bartholdi was born on this date in 1834.  He was a white-French artist and sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty for France as a gift to the United States of America. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was born in Colmar, France, to a family of Italian and German Protestant heritage.  Bartholdi was the youngest of […]

José White Lafitte, Classical Musician born

*José Silvestre White Lafitte, also known as Joseph White, was an Afro Cuban French violinist and composer born on this date in 1836.   Born in Matanzas, Cuba, his father, Don Carlos White, was Spanish, and his mother was Afro Cuban. After receiving early musical training from his father, an amateur violinist, White gave his first […]

Grafton T. Brown, Artist of Western Landscapes born

*On this date in 1841, Grafton Tyler Brown was born. He was an African American lithographer and painter.

Born of free ancestry in Pennsylvania, Brown followed the lure of the West to California in the mid-1850s, taking part in the expansion that would change the face of the nation. He was able to find work as a lithographer in San Francisco and in time formed his own business in 1866. Brown is considered the first Black professional artist in California.

Ellis Ruley, Artist born

*Ellis Ruley was born on this date in 1882. He was a Black folk artist and laborer. “Ellis Walter Ruley was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Joshua Ruley and Eudora Robinson. Joshua Ruley and Robinson had four sons and two daughters, of which Ellis Ruley was the oldest. One account describes the elder Ruley as […]

Charles Porter, Artist, and Art Teacher born

*This date in 1847 celebrates the birth of Charles Porter, a Black artist who specialized in still-life painting. Charles Porter was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His father was a mill worker, and his mother was a servant. By the early 1850s, Porter’s family moved to the nearby village of Rockville (now part of Vernon, Connecticut). The family […]

Ella Sheppard, Jubilee Singer born

*Ella Sheppard was born on this date in 1851. She was a Black musician, vocalist, and educator.

Walter Craig, Violinist and Orchestra Director born.

*Walter Craig was born on this date in 1854. He was a Black violin soloist and orchestra director. Walter F. Craig was born to Charles A. and Sarah E. Craig in Princeton, New Jersey. He moved to New York City in 1861, where he went to Colored School No. 7 under principal Charlotte Smith, who […]

Lucien Lambert Jr., Pianist and Composer, born

*Lucien Lambert, Jr. was born on this date in 1858. He was a Black pianist and composer of American Creole descent. Lucien-Leon Lambert was the son of New Orleans composer Charles Lucien Lambert, who married a French woman and emigrated from the U.S. in 1854. Lambert, Jr. studied music with his father, Theodore Dubois, and Jules Massenet. After […]

Mamie Hilyer, Classical Music Advocate born

*Mamie Hilyer was born on this date in 1863. She was a Black pianist and promoter of classical music.   Mamie Elizabeth Nichols was born in the District of Columbia. An accomplished pianist, she was an ‘active member of the city’s Black upper class. Hilyer became a devoted champion of ‘good music’ and its cultivation […]