People, Locations, Episodes

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.

William Edmondson, Sculptor born.

On this date we recall the birth of William Edmondson in 1863. He was a black sculptor and the first Black artist to achieve a one-man exhibition in America.

A child of slaves, he was born in the Hillsboro section of Davidson County, next to Nashville, Tennessee. His father died while he and his siblings–four brothers and a sister–were young.

Jesse Shipp Sr., Playwright born

*Jesse Shipp was born on this date in 1864.  He was a Black actor, playwright, and theatrical director.   Born in 1864 in Cincinnati, Jesse Allison Shipp, Sr’s father, Thomas Shipp, was born a slave in South Carolina. His mother, Ellen Shipp, was of bi-racial heritage and was born around 1830 in the slave state of Kentucky.  Sometime before the American Civil War, both had managed to leave the Southern […]

Richard B. Harrison, Stage Actor born

Richard Berry Harrison was born on this date in 1864. He was an African American actor, teacher, dramatic reader, lecturer, and elocutionist.

Ernest Hogan, Stage Performer born

*The birth of Ernest Hogan c1865 is celebrated on this date.  He was a Black dancer, musician, comedian, actor, and producer.    He was born Ernest Reuben Crowders in the Shake Rag District of Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Little is known about his childhood, but as a teenager, he traveled with a minstrel troupe called the Georgia Graduate, where […]

Amanda Aldridge, Opera Singer and Opera Teacher born

*Amanda Aldridge was born on this date in 1866. She was a Black British opera singer, teacher, and composer. Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge was born in Upper Norwood, London, the third child of Black actor Ira Frederick Aldridge and his second wife, Amanda Brandt, who was Swedish. She had two sisters, Rachael and Luranah, and […]

Pat Chappelle, Vaudeville Pioneer born

*Pat Chappelle was born on this date in 1869. He was a Black stage showman, theatre owner, and entrepreneur.  Patrick Henry Chappelle was from Jacksonville, Florida, the son of Lewis Chappelle and his wife Anna, who had been slaves in Newberry County, South Carolina. After slavery was abolished, they left South Carolina with their relatives […]

Olivia Bush, Writer, and Drama Coach born

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, an African American writer and drama instructor, was born on this day in 1869.

Born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, Olivia was the daughter of Eliza Draper and Abraham Ward, both of whom were of African and Montauk descent. Ward’s mother died when was about one year old. She and her father moved to Providence, R.I., where he married again, but he handed young Ward over to her mother’s sister, Maria Draper, who reared Olivia as her own child.

Adrienne Herndon, Actress, and Designer born

*Adrienne Herndon was born on this date in1869. She was an African American actress, and designer.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers are Formed

*The founding of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1866 is occurred on this date. These singers were talented emancipated slaves who toured to raise money for Fisk University.

Ruth G. Sheldon, Playwright born

*Ruth Shelton was born on this date in 1872. She was a Black writer and playwright.  Ruth Gaines-Shelton was from Glasgow, Missouri, the daughter of AME Church minister the Reverend George W. Gaines and his wife, Elizabeth Gaines. Her mother died when she was young, and she helped her father with church work at Old […]

Sherman Dudley, Stage Entrepreneur born

*The birth of Sherman Dudley is celebrated on this date, c1872.   He was a Black vaudeville performer and theatre entrepreneur.   Sherman Houston Dudley was born in Dallas, Texas, of humble parentage. A jockey early in his youth, he turned to theater and gained a reputation by singing in a medicine show on a Dallas street corner. By 1897, he had his […]

Dora Dean, Vaudeville Dancer born

*Dora Dean’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1872. She was a Black dancer and entertainer. She was born Dora Babbige in Cloverport, Kentucky. She worked as a nursemaid in Cincinnati, Ohio, before becoming an entertainer. Dean debuted as a dancer with a Creole traveling show. In vaudeville, she was “The Black Venus.” She was […]

George Walker, Vaudevillian Actor born

*George Walker’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1873.   He was a Black vaudevillian, actor, and producer.    George W. Walker was born in Lawrence, Kansas, and was the son of a policeman and his wife.   He began his career as a child performer, touring in Black minstrel and medicine shows.  In 1893, in San Francisco, Walker, at age 20, met Bert Williams, who […]

Anna Gardner Goodwin, Composer born

*The birth of Anna Gardner Goodwin is celebrated on this date in 1874.  She was a Black composer, mainly of religious music and marches. Anna Gardner was born in Augusta, Georgia, and is the daughter of Daniel and Anna Gardner. Dan Gardner was remembered as “the March King of Augusta,” a cornet player who led […]