People, Locations, Episodes

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 […]

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 […]

Bert Williams, Actor, Comedian, and Composer born

This date remembers Bert Williams, born in 1876. Williams was an African American comedian who portrayed the slow-witted, shuffling black man that was then a standard role in vaudeville.

He was born in New Providence, Bahamas. Williams went to California with his family when he was a child. Later he worked in the mining and lumber camps of the West.

May Howard Jackson, Sculptor born

On this date we celebrate the birth of May Howard Jackson, an African American sculptor, in 1877.

She was born in Philadelphia, PA., the daughter of Floarda Howard and Sallie Durham. She attended public schools and then entered Todd’s Art School. In 1895, she became the first black student to receive a scholarship to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied for four years with William Merritt Chase, Charles Grafly, and John Joseph Boyle. She graduated in 1899 and married William Sherman Jackson, a mathematics teacher.

Charles Gilpin, Actor born

Charles Gilpin was born on this date in 1878. He was an African American actor and singer.

Born in Richmond, VA, Charles Sidney Gilpin worked as an apprentice in the Richmond Planet print shop before finding his career in theater and becoming one of the most highly regarded actors of the 1920s. He first came on stage as a singer at the age of 12. In 1896, Gilpin joined a minstrel show, leaving Richmond and beginning a life on the road for many years.

Mary Burrill, Teacher, and Playwright born

*Mary P. Burrill was born on this date in 1881.  She was a Black teacher and playwright.  Born in Washington, D.C., her father was John H. Burrill, and her mother was Clara E. Burrill.    She graduated in 1901 from Washington’s M Street School (later Dunbar High School), entered Emerson College in the fall of […]

Lester Walton, Composer, and Journalist born

*Lester Walton was born on this date in 1882. He was a Black composer, diplomat, and journalist.   Lester Aglar Walton, from St. Louis, MO, graduated from segregated Sumner High School. After graduation, his father provided him with a white tutor to help him graduate from a business school. Walton was an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member, the […]

Anita Bush, Actress and, Dancer born

Anita Bush was born on this date in 1883. She was an African American dancer, actress, and theatrical administrator.

Nora Hendrix, Singer, and Dancer born

*Nora” Moore Hendrix was born on this date in 1883.  She was a Black vaudeville singer and dancer.  Born in Georgia, Zenora “Nora” Moore’s parents were Fanny Moore, originally from Ohio, and Robert Moore Sr., a Georgia native.  Fanny Moore was half Cherokee and half African.  Robert Moore Sr. was a freed African slave.  Together […]

William E. Scott, Art Muralist born

*William E. Scott was born on this date in 1884. He was a Black artist. William Edouard Scott was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Edward and Caroline Scott (née Russell). After graduating from Manual Training High School in 1903, Scott spent a year studying drawing under Otto Stark. In 1904, he moved to Chicago and […]

Rose McClendon, Stage Actress born

Rose McClendon was born on this date in 1884. She was an African American actress, theater administrator, and director.

Abbie Mitchell, Singer, and Entertainer born

*Abbie Mitchell was born on this date in 1884. She was an African American singer and actress.

From the Lower East Side of New York City, she was the daughter of an African American mother and a German Jewish father, both who were musically talented. After completing her public school training in Baltimore, she began to study voice in New York in 1897. Lyricist, Paul L. Dunbar, and composer Will Marion Cook who cast her in their musical Clorindy, the Origin of the Cakewalk, recognized her talent.

Flournoy Miller, Vaudeville Playwright born

*Flournoy Miller was born on this date in 1885. He was a Black entertainer, actor, lyricist, producer, and playwright.   Flournoy Eakin Miller was born in Columbia, Tennessee, the second son of the editor of a Black newspaper; his older brother Irvin C. Miller also became a noted vaudeville performer and theatre producer. He studied […]