People, Locations, Episodes

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 […]

Edmonia Lewis, Sculptor Artist born

Edmonia Lewis was born on this date in the mid-nineteenth century, a pioneering Black artist believed to be the first woman sculptor of African American and Native American heritage.

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 […]

Sam Lucas, Stage Actor born

*Sam Lucas was born on this date in 1848. He was a Black actor, comedian, singer, and songwriter.  Samuel Mildmay Lucas was from Washington Court House, Ohio, the son of free black parents. As a teenager, he showed a talent for guitar and singing, and while working as a barber, his local performances gained him a reputation. In 1858, he began his […]

Marie Selika Williams, Vocalist born

*On this date in 1849, we celebrate the birth of Marie Selika Williams. She was a African American concert vocalist and educator. 

Ella Sheppard, Jubilee Singer born

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

Jennie Jackson, Choral Singer born

*Jennie Jackson is celebrated on this date in 1852. She was a Black singer and voice teacher. She was one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, an a cappella ensemble. Jennie Jackson was born in Kingston, Tennessee. Her grandfather was enslaved in Andrew Jackson’s household. Her parents were also enslaved, but she was raised in freedom from an […]

Claudio Brindis de Salas, Musician born

*Claudio Brindis de Salas was born on this date in 1852. He was an Afro Cuban violinist and double bass player.  Born in Havana, his father was the violinist and bandleader Claudio Brindis de Salas. Young de Salas studied under his father, and maestros José Redondo and the Belgian José Van der Gucht (who lived […]

Maggie Porter, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Maggie Porter is celebrated on this date in 1853. She was a first-generation freed slave, teacher, and choral singer.   Maggie Porter was one of three daughters born in Lebanon, Tennessee, to a slave family belonging to Henry Frazier. At the start of the American Civil War, Frazier moved to Nashville, taking Maggie’s family […]

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 […]

Georgia Taylor, Jubilee Singer born

Georgia Gordon Taylor’s birth in 1855 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American vocalist.

From Nashville, Tennessee, she had a mulatto mother, Mercy Duke Gordon and a slave father, George Gordon. Mercy’s mother was white, and the law required that children of free mothers were free. Mercy had another child, Elwina, fathered by a white man (a “Doctor Warner”) before she married Gordon. Gordon was allowed to live in his free spouse’s household, hire out his own time, and pay part of his wages to his owner. Mercy and George had two children: Governor B. and Georgia.

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 […]

Henry O. Tanner, Artist born

Henry Ossawa Tanner was born on this date in 1859. He was a Black painter known for his paintings of everyday African American life and for his scenes from the Bible.