People, Locations, Episodes

“A Raisin in the Sun” Debuts on Broadway

*On this date in 1959 “A Raisin in the Sun,” became the first Broadway play written by a Black woman.

The show opened at the Barrymore Theater with Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil in the starring roles. Lorraine Hansberry’s drama ran for 530 performances and received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

Laurence Fishburne, Stage, TV, and Screen Actor born

Laurence Fishburne was born on this date 1961. He is an African American actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, and producer.

Born in Augusta, GA, he and his mother (a divorced teacher) moved the family to Brooklyn, NY, which he considers his hometown. Fishburne landed a regular role on “One Life to Live” when he was 10. His movie debut was in “Cornbread, Earl and Me” (1975). When he was 14, he began work on “Apocalypse Now” after lying about his age. For the next several years, he was offered only small roles. He eventually landed a part on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

LaMaMa Experimental Theater Club Opens

*La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, also known as La MaMa ETC, opened on this date in 1961. It is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded by Ellen Stewart, a theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan’s East Village, the theatre began in the basement boutique where Stewart sold her fashion designs. Stewart turned the space […]

‘Black Nativity’ Debuts on Broadway

On this date in 1961, “Black Nativity” opened on Broadway. Langston Hughes’ self-described “gospel song play” was staged at New York City’s Lincoln Theater.

The Christmas story performed in dialog, narrative, pantomime, gospel song, and folk spirituals is an expression of Hughes’ late-in-life interest in African American spirituality and the oral traditions of the African American church.

Andre Braugher, Actor born.

*Andre Braugher was born on this date in 1962. He was a Black actor. Andre Keith Braugher was born in Chicago, the youngest of four children born to Sally, a postal worker, and Floyd Braugher, a heavy equipment operator. He lived in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep […]

The Free Southern Theater is Formed

*The Free Southern Theater (FST) is celebrated on this date in 1963. FST was a community theater group founded in 1963 at Tougaloo College by Gilbert Moses, Denise Nicholas, Doris Derby, and John O’Neal.  In White America, their first production toured 16 towns and cities ranging in size from Mileston in Holmes County, Mississippi, to New Orleans. Gilbert Moses […]

Jennifer Beals, Actress born

*Jennifer Beals was born on this date in 1963. She is a Black actress and photographer. Early life Beals was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, in the Bronzseville community. She’s the daughter of Jeanne Anderson, an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. Beals’ father was Black, […]

Viola Davis, Actress, and Producer born

*Viola Davis was born on this date in 1965. She is a Black actress and producer. Viola Davis was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Mary Alice (née Logan) and Dan Davis and was born on her grandmother’s farm on the Singleton Plantation. Her father was a horse trainer, and her […]

The Negro Ensemble Company Begins

*On this date in 1967, The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) started. This was a New York City-based theater company and workshop established by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer-actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S. Krone, with funding from the Ford Foundation. The company’s focus on original works with themes based on the Black experience with an international perspective created a canon of theatrical works and an […]

LL Cool J, Rapper and Actor born

*LL Cool J was born on this date in 1968. He is a Black rapper and actor. James Todd Smith was born in Bay Shore, on Long Island, New York, to Ondrea Griffith and James Louis Smith Jr, also known as James Nunya. According to the Chicago Tribune, “[As] a kid growing up middle class […]

The Billie Holiday Theatre Opens

*The Billy Holiday Theatre’s opening in 1968 is celebrated on this date. Serving some 30,000 people annually for more than 30 years, the Audelco and Obie award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre has garnered a well-earned reputation for providing outstanding professional theater productions at affordable prices. The 200-seat theater has a 40-week season and is training ground for aspiring theater professionals. It has nurtured the careers of Oscar-nominated actor Samuel L.

Christopher Ofili, Artist born

*Christopher Ofili was born on this date in 1968. He is a Black British artist (painter). Ofili was born to May and Michael Ofili in Manchester, the UK. When he was eleven, his father left the family and returned to Nigeria. Ofili was educated at St. Pius X High School for Boys and then at […]

Radcliffe Bailey, Mixed-Media Artist born

*Radcliffe Bailey was born on this date in 1968. He was a Black contemporary visual artist noted for mixed-media, painting, and sculpture works. Radcliffe Bailey was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey. At age four, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. His interest in Art began with childhood visits to the High Museum of Art and drawing classes Bailey […]

Purlie (the musical) Debuts

*Purlie was first performed on stage on this date in 1970. It was a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis’s 1961 play Purlie Victorious, which became the 1963 film Gone Are the Days! The cast included Cleavon Little, John […]

The First Black wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

*On this date in 1970, the first Black won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.  The award came to Charles Gordone, an American playwright, for the Broadway production of No Place to Be Somebody.  His gritty barroom drama was based on his work at a New York City Greenwich Village bar.  No Place to Be Somebody, […]