People, Locations, Episodes

Ida Shepley, British Singer and Actress born

*Ida Shepley was born on this date in 1908. She was a Black British actress and singer. She was born Ida Mary Humphrey in Nantwich, U.K. Her father was Clement Humphrey, a Caribbean-born herbalist; her mother was Gladys May, born Worthington; she had a younger brother born in 1912. In 1919, her mother remarried John […]

Lari Gilges, Black German Actor born

*Lari Gilges was born on this date in 1909. He was a Black German actor and communist. Hilarius Gilges was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, and he was one of the few Black Germans born in the country before the First World War. His mother, Maria Stüttgen, was a white textile worker in Düsseldorf; his biological […]

Norman Lewis, Painting Artist born

Norman Lewis was born on this date in 1909. He was an African American painter.

Helen Martin, Actress born

*Helen Martin was born on this date in 1909.  She was a Black actress on stage and television.   Helen Dorothy Martin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was the daughter of William Martin, a minister, and Amanda Frankie Fox. She was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and attended segregated public schools. During her teenage years, she led a band and performed […]

Abram Hill, Theatrical Playwright born

*Abram Hill was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black playwright, author, and theater administrator. Abram Hill was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and spent half his childhood there. At seven, he appeared in a Morehouse College Theatre production. In 1925, the family moved to Harlem, New York, and at 13 years of age, Hill attended De […]

Robert E. Jones, Actor born

*Robert E. Jones was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black actor and professional boxer. Robert Earl Jones was born in Senatobia, or Coldwater, Mississippi, and was the son of Robert and Elnora Jones. He left school early to work as a sharecropper to help his family. Jones later became a prizefighter. Under the […]

Wilmer Jennings, Artist, and Printmaker born

*The birth of Wilmer Jennings is celebrated on this date in 1910. was a Black printmaker, artist, and jeweler. Wilmer Angier Jennings was born in Atlanta, Georgia. While attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, Jennings studied under the artist Hale Woodruff, who introduced him to the principles of modernism. Under the Graphic Arts Division of the Works Progress Association (WPA) in 1934, […]

Scatman Crothers, Actor born

Scatman Crothers, an African American actor and musician, was born on this date in 1910.

Born in Terre Haute, IN, Benjamin Sherman Crothers (his name at birth) was the son of a cobbler at the age of 14 he began to teach himself to play the drums and guitar. Soon he got a job entertaining customers at one of the local speakeasies, and at the age of 19, he and his brother, Louis, moved to Indianapolis to find work as entertainers.

Katherine Dunham, Choreographer, and Dancer born

Katherine Dunham was born on this date in 1910. She was an African American choreographer and dancer.

Ruth Attaway, Stage, Screen, and TV Actress born

Ruth Attaway was born on this date in 1910. She was an African American actress and volunteer.

Born in Greenville, MS, actress Ruth Attaway is best known for her work in theater. She debuted on Broadway in 1936 and went on to work on various stages, on and off Broadway, for over 40 years. Attaway was the first director in the New York Players Guild. She also had experience working in radio and on television. When not acting, she worked for the American Red Cross and for the state of New York.

The Howard Theatre (Washinton D.C.) Opens

*The Howard Theatre Opened on this date in 1910.  This is a historic theater located at 620 T Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., Constructed in 1910; the theater was founded and owned by the National Amusement Company, a white-owned group.  When built, it had a capacity of more than 1,200.   Designed by J. Edward Storck, […]

The ‘Howard Players’ are Formed

*On this date in 1911, “The Howard Players” began. They are the on-campus theatrical organization at Howard University.   Historically, their groundwork began years before that by Coralie Franklin Cook, who taught elocution at Howard in the 1890s. Thus, in 1907, the intensive study of public speaking and being a voice for the performing arts […]

Muriel Rahn, Vocalist born

*Muriel Rahn was born on this date in 1911.  She was a Black vocalist and actress.   Muriel Ellen Rahn was born in Boston in 1911, the daughter of Willie and Elizabeth “Bessie” Smith.  After her father died, she moved with her mother to New York City, where Bessie met and married Cornelius M. Battey, who […]

Romare Bearden, Artist born

On this date in 1911, Romare Bearden, African American and one of the 20th century’s most important artists, was born.

The Lafayette Theater Opens

*The Lafayette Theatre is celebrated on this date. In New York, this was one of the first stage houses in America where Black artist performed.