People, Locations, Episodes

Thelma Streat, Artist born

*Thelma Streat was born on this date in 1912. She was an African American Artist, Dancer, Educator and Folklorist.

‘Buster’ Brown, Tap Dancer born

“Buster” Brown’s birth in 1913 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American Tap dancer and entertainer.

Cholly Atkins, Dancer, and Choreographer born

Cholly Atkins was born on this date in 1913. He was an African American choreographer and dancer.

Born Charles Atkinson in Pratt City, AL, Atkins learned to dance from his mother. After winning a Charleston dance contest in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1923, Atkins became a singing waiter, soon teaming up with William Porter in a tap act called the Rhythm Pals. They broke up in the late 1930s, after which Atkins took the name Cholly, similar to a news columnist of the day.

Charles Sebree, Artist, and Playwright born

*This date in 1914 is celebrated as the birth date of Charles Sebree. He was a Black artist and playwright best known for his involvement in Chicago’s black arts community of the 1930s and 1940s.  Charles Sebree was born in White City, located in eastern Kentucky. In 1924, his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois, which exposed Sebree […]

Frankie Manning, Dancer born

*Frankie Manning was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American dancer and choreographer.

From Jacksonville, Florida and raised in New York City, he started dancing in his early teens at a Sunday afternoon dance at the Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem to the music of Vernon Andrade. From there he moved on to the Renaissance Ballroom, which had an early evening dance for older teens with the live swing music of the Claude Hopkins Orchestra. Finally, Frankie “graduated” to the Savoy Ballroom, which was known for its great dancers and bands.

Ernest Crichlow, Artist born

*Ernest Crichlow was born on this date in 1914.  He was an African American social realist artist.   Ernest Crichlow was born in Brooklyn, New York to Caribbean immigrants. He studied art at the School of Commercial Illustrating and Advertising Art in New York and New York University. Crichlow started work as an artist in a studio sponsored by Works Progress Administration’s  Federal Art […]

Fayad Nicholas, Dancer, and Choreographer born

*Fayard Nicholas was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American dancer and choreographer.

Gertrude Hadley Jeannette, Actress, and Playwright born

*Gertrude Hadley Jeannette was born on this date in 1914. She was a Black playwright, film, and stage actress.   Born Salley Gertrude Crawford Hadley in Urbana, Arkansas, her mother was a homemaker. Willis Lawrence Hadley, her father, taught at a Native American reservation near Spiro, Oklahoma.  Jeannette had five brothers and one sister and grew up on a farm. The family moved […]

Karamu House (Theater Company) Opens

The founding of the Karamu House in 1915 is celebrated on this date. Located in Cleveland, OH, the Karamu house is the oldest Black Theater Company in America.

Orson Welles, Stage and Film Director born

*Orson Welles was born on this date in 1915. He was a white-American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. George Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the son of Richard Head Welles and Beatrice Ives Welles. His parents separated and moved to Chicago in 1919. His father, who made a fortune as an […]

Henry LeTang, Choreographer born

*Henry LeTang was born on this date in 1915. He was an African American choreographer.

Hughie Lee-Smith, Florida Artist born

*Hughie Lee Smith was born on this date in 1915,. He was an African American artist.

From Eustis Florida, his parents were Luther and Alice Williams Smith. Later he changed his last name to Lee-Smith after he and his art school classmates decided Smith was too ordinary a name for a distinguished painter. Lee-Smith began drawing at a very early age. Shaped by the Great Depression and the WPA artists of the late 1930s, Lee-Smith’s earliest work was fired by social concerns and longing for a better, more democratic ideal for the future of America.

Lawrence Winters, Opera Vocalist born

*Lawrence Winters was born on this date in 1915.  He was a Black opera singer with an active international career from the mid-1940s through the mid-1960s.   Lawrence Lafayette Whisonant was from King’s Creek, South Carolina.  He began to study singing privately before entering Howard University in 1941, where he studied singing with Todd Duncan. After […]

Claude Clark, Artist born

*Claude Clark was born on this date in 1915. He was a Black painter, printmaker, and art educator. Claude Clark was born on a tenant farm in Rockingham, Georgia. In early August 1923, Clark’s parents left the South for a better life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Great Migration. Clark attended Roxborough High School, where […]

The Lafayette Players Debut

*On this date in 1915, the Lafayette Players debuted their first stage production.  Anita Bush founded the Lafayette Players, a dramatic stock company composed entirely of African American actors.  Originally from Harlem, this first-of-its-kind group introduced audiences to the idea that Black actors could take on various roles and display a much greater range than previously considered […]