People, Locations, Episodes

Willis Richardson, Playwright born

Willis Richardson, an African American playwright, was born on this date in 1889.

Born in Wilmington, N.C., he and his parents, Willis Wilder and Agnes Ann Harper Richardson, moved to Washington, D.C. shortly after the Wilmington Riots of 1898. The riots resulted in the death of 16 Blacks and affected Richardson as a child. Richardson’s father read to him as a young boy and encouraged his interest in books and writing.

Ada Brown, Singer and Actress born

*Ada Brown was born on this date in 1890. She was an American blues and jazz singer and actress. Ada Scott Brown was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. She was born into a musically inclined family and grew up singing in church as a child. In 1910, she successfully launched her career at […]

Dorothy Heyward, Playwright born.

*Dorothy Heyward was born on this date in 1890. She was a white-American playwright. She was born Dorothy Kuhns in Wooster, Ohio, and lived in New York, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, throughout her childhood. She was interested in literature from an early age and started writing plays. After graduating from high school, she attended […]

Osceola Macarthy Adams, Actress, and Teacher born

*Osceola Macarthy Adams was born on this date in 1890. She was a Black actress, drama teacher, director, and clothing designer.   Born to a life insurance executive in Albany, Georgia, Osceola Macarthy was mixed with white-European, Native American, and Black African heritage. She attended schools in Albany, Georgia, including Albany Normal School, a predecessor […]

The First Black Woman Performers On An American Stage

*On this date in 1890 Sam T. Jacks’ play Creoles opens.

The Haverhill, Massachusetts’s production is the first time African American women are featured as performers on stage

Asadata Dafora, Musician born

*Asadata Dafora was born on this date in 1890.  He was a Black multidisciplinary musician. He was among the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States.   Austin Dafora Horton was born into the Creole ethnic group in Freetown, British Sierra Leone. The son of John ‘Johnnie’ Warner M. Horton, the […]

Lillian E. Evanti, Vocalist born

*Lillian Evans Evanti was born on this date in 1890. A lyric soprano, she was the first African American to sing opera with an organized company in Europe.

Palmer Hayden, Artist born

On this date we celebrate Palmer Hayden’s birth in 1890. He was an African American painter whose work became known during the Harlem Renaissance.

Born Peyton Cole Hedgeman in Wide Water, Virginia, he was a prolific artist of his era. He depicted African American life, painting in both oils and watercolors.

John Hardrick, Artist born

*On this date in 1891, John Wesley Hardrick was born. He was an African American painter.

Alma Thomas, Artist, and Instructor born

*On this date in 1891, Alma Thomas was born. She was an African American Painter and instructor.

From Columbus, Georgia, Thomas moved to Washington as a young girl. In 1924 she became the first graduate of the art department of Howard University and ten years later received an M. A. from Columbia University. She taught art at Shaw Junior High School in the nations capitol for thirty-six years until she retired in 1960 to devote her energies to painting. During her long tenure at Shaw, Thomas was a dedicated and imaginative teacher.

Archibald Motley, Artist born

On this date in 1891, Archibald J. Motley, Jr. was born. He was an African American artist.

He was born in New Orleans, to Archibald Motley, Sr., and Mary Huff. His family moved to Chicago, where his father worked as a Pullman Porter, and the family settled into a quiet neighborhood on the West Side. In his home he would listen to his father and A. Phillip Randolph discuss the organization of the Pullman Porter’s Union. He also watched his nephew Williard Motley struggle to write. The hard work and ambition that he witnessed as a child would carry him through his artistic career.

Augusta Savage, Sculptor born

*This date celebrates the birth of Augusta Christine Savage in 1892. She was an American sculptor and educator who battled racism to secure a place for blacks in the art world.

From Green Cove Springs, Fla., Savage’s family moved to West Palm Beach about 1907, where she thrived academically, conducting art classes for a dollar a day while she was still a student herself. After failing to make a living by executing commissioned busts of Jacksonville’s well-to-do blacks, she moved to New York City to study art.

Minnie Evans, Artist born

Minnie Evans was born on this date in 1892. She was an African American artist.

Minnie Jones was born and raised in a log cabin in Long Creek, Pender County, North Carolina, to Ella Jones, later Ella Jones Kelly. She and her mother moved to Wilmington in early 1893. Minnie left school after the fifth grade to work as a “sounder,” selling oysters and clams door-to-door.

Emma Chambers Maitland, Dancer and Boxer born

*Emma Chambers Maitland was born on this date in 1893. She was a Black dancer, teacher, and boxer. Born Jane Chambers, she was from near Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Wyatt Chambers and Cora Chambers. Her parents were sharecroppers, and she had seven brothers. She was educated at a convent school in Rock Castle, Virginia, and […]

Lawrence Brown, Composer and Pianist born

*Lawrence Brown was born on this date in 1893. He was a Black Gay vocalist (tenor), composer and pianist. Lawrence Benjamin Brown was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by his father, Clark Benjamin Brown, and his stepmother, Cenia Brown. Lawrence’s birth mother died when he was three years old. Clark and his father were […]