People, Locations, Episodes

Dick Campbell, Stage Actor, and Theater Advocate born

*Dick Campbell was born on this date in 1903.  He was a Black actor, theater advocate, and community activist.   Born Cornelius Coleridge Campbell in Beaumont, Texas. Orphaned at six, he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Pauline Snow. He was a janitor at his local high school before attending Paul Quinn College in Waco, […]

Walter Roland, Pianist born

*On this date, in 1903, Walter Roland was born.  He was a Black blues, boogie-woogie, jazz pianist, guitarist, and singer.      Roland was born in Ralph, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He started playing on the Birmingham blues circuit in the 1920s. A competent and versatile pianist, his range covered slow blues to upbeat, jaunty boogie-woogie numbers. He was also a skilled guitar player and had a forceful […]

Fredi Washington, Actress born

*On this date in 1903, Fredi Washington was born. She was an African American actress, writer, dancer, and singer.

From Savannah, Georgia, Fredericka Carolyn Washington’s education began at St. Elizabeth Convent in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania. She then attended the Egri School of Dramatic Writing and the Christopher School of Languages, where her attractions included casting, writing, dancing, singing, and civil rights. Washington’s career began dancing in nightclubs. From 1922 to 1926, she toured with Sissle and Blake’s Shuffle Along.

James Baskett, Actor born.

*On this date we point out the birth of James Baskett in 1904. He was an African American actor.

Pigmeat Markham, Comedian born

On this date we mark the birth of Pigmeat Markham in 1904. He was an African American comedian.

From Durham, North Carolina, Dewey Pigmeat Markham began his long career in 1917, dancing in traveling shows. He traveled the southern ‘race’ circuit with blues singer Bessie Smith and later appeared on burlesque bills with Milton Berle, Red Buttons, and Eddie Cantor. By the 50s, Markham was one of Black America’s most popular entertainers through his shows at the Regal in Chicago, the Howard in Washington, and in particular, New York’s famed Apollo.

John P. Davis, Journalist born

*John P. Davis was born on this date in 1905. He was a Black journalist, lawyer, and activist administrator. John Preston Davis was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Dr. William Henry Davis and Julia Davis. In the 1920s, his father was Secretary to the Presidential Commission investigating the economic conditions in the Virgin […]

Frederick O’Neal, Stage, and Media Arts Advocate born

Frederick Douglass O’Neal was born on this date in 1905. He was an African American stage, film, and TV actor/director who also organized and led theater and arts groups.

Eddie Anderson, Actor, and Comedian born

*On this date, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson was born in 1905. He was an African American actor best known for his comic portrayal of the character “Rochester” on the Jack Benny radio show.

Bob Howard, Comedian, and Singer born

Bob Howard was born on this date in 1906. He was an African American pianist, comedian, and actor of the Broadway stage, radio, and television.

Ernestine Wade, Actress born

*Ernestine Wade was born on this date in 1906. She was an African American actress.

Canada Lee, Actor born

This date marks the birth of Canada Lee (Lionel Cornelius Canegata, his name at birth) in 1907. He was an African American actor and one of the leading Black actors of the 1940s and 1950s.

His film credits include Alfred Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” and Robert Rosen’s “Body and Soul.” He was known for his dignified presence, a rare image for black screen actors of that time.

Alvin Childress, Actor born

*Alvin Childress was born on this date in 1907. He was an African American Actor.

Clayton Bates, Dancer born

The birth of Clayton Bates, an African American tap dancer, is marked on this date in 1907.

He was born in rural Fountain Inn, S.C., where his mother, Emma, raised him alone after his father abandoned them. He loved to dance and started dancing at the age of five. When he was 12, he lost his left leg after it was mangled in the conveyor belt of a cotton separator at a mill where he was working. With no hospital nearby for Black people, his leg was amputated on the table in his mother’s kitchen. After the mill accident, people said he would never dance again.

‘Jacko’ Maxwell, Negro League Broadcaster born

Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell was born on this date in 1907. He was an African American sports broadcaster, journalist, and postal worker.

A Newark, N.J. native Sherman Leander Maxwell was the son of William and Bessie E. (Harris) Maxwell. In 1928, Sherman graduated from Newark Central High School. He had hoped to attend Panzer College of Physical Education and Hygiene in East Orange, only to find it did not accept Black students.

Ralph Cooper, Actor, and Apollo Theater Master of Ceremonies born

*Ralph Cooper was born on this date in 1908. He was an African American actor and entertainment administrator.