People, Locations, Episodes

Anna Lucasta Premiers on Broadway

On this date in 1944, the play “Anna Lucasta” opened on Broadway.

The American Negro Theater produced this first all-Black production with a non-racial theme. It starred Hilda Simms and Frederick O’Neal. The setting was the Lucasta living room in Pennsylvania and Noah’s Bar in Brooklyn, early 1941.

Written by Philip Yordan, the story about a waterfront prostitute had a very successful run of over 950 performances. The play with was filmed in 1958, starring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis Jr.

Fred Benjamin, Choreographer born

Fred Benjamin was born on this date in 1944. He was an African American dancer, choreographer, and instructor.

He was born in Boston, and began dancing at age four at Elma Lewis’ School of Fine Arts in Roxbury. He danced with the Talley Beatty Company from 1963 until 1966, when the company folded. Two years later, he started his own New York-based Fred Benjamin Dance Company, which existed, largely without funding, for 20 years. Like most African American choreographers of the time, his work was compared to that of Alvin Ailey, but Benjamin modeled himself after his idol, Beatty.

Madeline Murphy Rabb, Artisan born

*Madeline Murphy Rabb was born on this date in 1945. She was a Black art collector, dealer, and lover of art. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she was the second of five children, the daughter of Madeline W. Murphy and William H. Murphy, Sr. After completing high school, Murphy attended the University of Maryland in 1961. […]

August Wilson, Theatrical Playwright born

*On this date in 1945, August Wilson was born. He was an
African American Playwright and Activist.

Born in Pittsburgh to a white father (Frederick August Kittle, who never lived with his family) and a Black mother (Daisy Wilson) from North Carolina. His mother raised him along with five siblings. During the 1960s Wilson left school in the 9th grade and worked at menial jobs at age 16. He received his education in libraries and in town hubs. Wilson began writing plays in Pittsburgh and then took a job in St. Paul writing dramatic skits for the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Ron Glass, Actor born

*Ron Glass was born on this date in 1945. He was an African American actor.

Richard Westley, Playwright born

*Richard Wesley was born on this date in 1945. He is a Black playwright and screenwriter. Richard Wesley was born in Newark, New Jersey, to George and Gertrude Wesley and grew up in the city’s Ironbound section.   After finishing high school, he studied playwriting and dramatic literature at Howard University and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 1967.  He first became known […]

Jessye Norman, Classic Soprano Vocalist born

*Jessye Norman was born on this date in 1945.  She was a Black opera singer (soprano) and recitalist.   Jessye Mae Norman was from Augusta, Georgia, the daughter of Silas Norman, an insurance salesman, and Janie King-Norman, a schoolteacher.  She was one of five children in a family of amateur musicians; her mother and grandmother were pianists, and her father sang in a […]

Dianne McIntyre, Dancer and Teacher born

*Dianne McIntyre was born on this date in 1946.  She is a Black dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Dianne McIntyre was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Dorothy Layne McIntyre, the first Black woman to be licensed by the Civil Aeronautics Authority, and Francis Benjamin McIntyre.  At the age of four, McIntyre began studying ballet under the tutelage of Elaine Gibbs after […]

Willard White, Classic Vocalist born

*Willard White was born on this date in 1946. He is a Jamaican bass-baritone classical vocalist.

He was born into a poor but supportive family in Kingston. His father was a dockworker, his mother a housewife. White first began to learn music by listening to the radio and singing Nat King Cole songs. Singer and civil rights activist, Paul Robeson, also inspired him. He was a founding member of the Jamaica Folk Singers, sang with the Jamaica Amateur Operatic Society and trained at the Jamaican School of Music and then went on to the Juilliard School in New York.

Ben Vereen, Dancer, and Singer born

*Ben Vereen was born on this date in 1946. He is a Black actor, dancer, and singer. Vereen was born Benjamin Augustus Middleton in Laurinburg, North Carolina. While still an infant, Vereen and his family relocated to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. He was adopted by James Vereen, a paint factory worker, […]

Samuel Wright, Actor, and Singer born

*Samuel Wright was born on this date in 1946. He was a Black actor and singer. Samuel Edward Wright was from Camden, South Carolina. He attended Camden High School, where he was involved in sports and the arts. His first Broadway role was in the original 1971 cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar.” […]

Phylicia Rashad, Actress born

Phylicia Rashad, an African American actress. was born on this date in 1948.

Michael Peters, Choreographer born

*Michael Peters was born on this date in 1948.  He was dancer and choreographer, best is best known for his work in Michael Jackson music videos. 

Kathleen Battle, Concert Soprano born

*Kathleen Battle was born on this date in 1948. She is an African American concert soprano.

From Portsmouth, Ohio, Kathleen (Deanna) Battle studied with Franklin Bens and earned her bachelor’s (1970) and master’s (1971) degrees from the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. She made her professional singing debut at the Spoleto Festival in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem under the direction of Thomas Schippers. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came five years later in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Battle has been awarded six honorary doctoral degrees.

Jewelle Gomez, Poet and Playwright born.

*Jewelle Gomez was born on this date in 1948. She is a Black lesbian author, poet, critic, and playwright. Jewelle Lydia Gomez was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dolores Minor LeClaire, a nurse, and John Gomez, a bartender. Gomez was raised by her maternal great-grandmother, Grace, who was born on Native land in Iowa to an African […]