*James V. Herring was born on this date in 1887. He was a Black artist and professor. James Vernon Herring was born in Clio, South Carolina, to a Black mother and a white Jewish father who was an educator and visual artist. To ensure him a good education and protection from white racial violence, his family sent […]
learn moreOn this date we remember the birth of Laura Wheeler Waring in 1887. She was an African American artist.
learn more*This date marks the birth of Horace Pippin in 1888. He was an African American folk painter known for his primitivist depictions of Black life in America and on the horrors of war.
learn more*Hall Johnson was born on this date in1888. He was an African American concert vocalist and composer.
From Athens, GA his father was a minister in the African Methodist Church and a college president. His earliest interest in music came from his grandmother. She was a former slave who exposed him to spirituals. Johnson graduated from Allen University and also studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the Julliard School and the University of Southern California.
learn more*The Tutt Brothers were celebrated on this date in 1888. They were a Black song and dance team that performed in the American Vaudeville era. They were producers, writers, and performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Salem Tutt Whitney was born in Logansport, Indiana, and his brother J. Homer Tutt was born there. They […]
learn more*William Higgins was born on this date in 1888. He was a Black vaudeville entertainer, comedian, singer, and songwriter. William Weldon Higgins was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Early on, he worked as a machinist. He began his career in 1912 on stage, often working in blackface and as a singer of ballads at private clubs in his hometown. […]
learn moreNoble Sissle, an African American musician and lyricist, was born on this date in 1889.
learn more*On this date, in 1889, the Harlem Opera House opened. It was an American opera house in the Harlem community of Manhattan in New York City. It was built in 1875 and designed by architect John B. McElfatrick by Oscar Hammerstein; it was his first theater in New York City. An early work at the […]
learn more*Nancy Elizabeth Prophet was born on this date in 1890. She was an African American sculptor.
An only child from Providence, Rhode Island, her father, William H. Prophet, was employed by that city, and her mother, Rose Walker Prophet, was a housewife. Encouraged by family and friends after high school, Prophet enrolled in the renowned Rhode Island School of Design, working as a domestic to pay her tuition. Her graduation and the Harlem Renaissance occurred at the same time, where she lived briefly.
learn more*Florence Cole Talbert was born on this date in 1890. She was a Black operatic soprano, music educator, and musician. Florence Cole was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family deeply rooted in music and the performing arts. Her mother, Sadie Chandler Cole, was a mezzo-soprano and member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Her father […]
learn more*On this date in 1892 the first African American performers appeared at Carnegie Hall.
The World’s Fair Colored Opera Company, with featured singer, soprano Matilda Sissieretta Jones, performed less than one year after the hall’s opening.
learn more*Dox Thrash, born on this date in 1893, was an African American artist and printer.
learn more*The birth of Mabel Ridley is celebrated on this date in 1894. She was a Black mezzo-soprano singer who appeared in Broadway theatre and revues in the 1920s and 1930s. Mabel Ridley was born in Augusta, Georgia, to Charles and Katherine Ridley in January 1894. Back in 1843, on their marriage, her grandparents, Ulysses Ridley […]
learn more*On this date in 1894, Mary Dawson was born. She was an African American musician, administrator, and teacher and the founding director of the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC).
learn more*Eva Jessye was born on this date in 1895. She was an African American singer, composer, choral director and actress.
She was one of the few musical phenomenons of the twentieth century. Born Eva Alberta Jessye in Coffeyville, Kansas near Oklahoma, her father supported the family as a chicken picker. She was an avid reader who sang as a child, writing her first poem at the age of seven; winning a contest at thirteen. Jessye studied choral music and music theory at the now defunct Western University in Quindaro, Kansas, graduating in 1914.
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