People, Locations, Episodes

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.

Lois M. Jones, Artist, and Educator born

On this date, Lois Mailou Jones, an African American painter and educator, was born in Boston in 1905.

Alonzo J. Aden, Art Historian born.

*Alonzo J. Aden was born on May 6, 1906. He was a Gay Black art historian and gallerist. Alonzo “Lonnie” Aden was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He was the oldest son of Ephraim Aden, a hotelier, and Naomi Barnett, a schoolteacher. Aden had blonde hair until early adulthood and green eyes. In 1920, Aden […]

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.

Gladys Bentley, Singer born

*Gladys Bentley was born on this date in 1907. She was an African American singer and entertainer.

She was the oldest of 4 children born to a Trinidad born mother, Mary Mote (Bentley) and an American born father, George L. Bentley. She left home at 16 and ended up in Harlem New York, the capital of “The New Negro.” For Bentley, her lesbianism and the large Homosexual population in the 1920s made her need to strike out on her own all the more urgent. In Harlem this great creative outpouring was also a celebration of optimism about the future of Black America.

Zenobia Powell Perry, Composer and Professor born

*Zenobia Powell Perry was born on October 3, 1908.  She was a Black composer, professor, and civil rights activist. She was born Zenobia Powell in Boley, Oklahoma, to physician Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (of some Creek Indian heritage). Her family was well-educated and middle-class. Her grandfather, who had been a slave, sang […]

James Washington, Sculptor-Artist born

*James Washington was born on November 10, 1908. He was a Black painter and sculptor. James W. Washington Jr. was born and raised in Gloster, Mississippi, a rural mill town. He was one of six children of Baptist minister James Washington and his wife, Lizzie. While he was still a child, his father fled the […]

Ida Shepley, British Singer and Actress born

*Ida Shepley was born on this date in 1908. She was a Black British actress and singer. She was born Ida Mary Humphrey in Nantwich, U.K. Her father was Clement Humphrey, a Caribbean-born herbalist; her mother was Gladys May, born Worthington; she had a younger brother born in 1912. In 1919, her mother remarried John […]

Lari Gilges, Black German Actor born

*Lari Gilges was born on this date in 1909. He was a Black German actor and communist. Hilarius Gilges was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, and he was one of the few Black Germans born in the country before the First World War. His mother, Maria Stüttgen, was a white textile worker in Düsseldorf; his biological […]

Helen Martin, Actress born

*Helen Martin was born on this date in 1909. She was a Black actress on stage and television.   Helen Dorothy Martin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was the daughter of William Martin, a minister, and Amanda Frankie Fox. She was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and attended segregated public schools. During her teenage years, she led a band and […]

Abram Hill, Theatrical Playwright born

*Abram Hill was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black playwright, author, and theater administrator. Abram Hill was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and spent half his childhood there. At seven, he appeared in a Morehouse College Theatre production. In 1925, the family moved to Harlem, New York, and at 13 years of age, Hill attended De […]

Robert E. Jones, Actor born

*Robert E. Jones was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black actor and professional boxer. Robert Earl Jones was born in Senatobia, or Coldwater, Mississippi, and was the son of Robert and Elnora Jones. He left school early to work as a sharecropper to help his family. Jones later became a prizefighter. Under the […]

Scatman Crothers, Actor born

Scatman Crothers, an African American actor and musician, was born on this date in 1910.

Born in Terre Haute, IN, Benjamin Sherman Crothers (his name at birth) was the son of a cobbler at the age of 14 he began to teach himself to play the drums and guitar. Soon he got a job entertaining customers at one of the local speakeasies, and at the age of 19, he and his brother, Louis, moved to Indianapolis to find work as entertainers.

Ruth Attaway, Stage, Screen, and TV Actress born

Ruth Attaway was born on this date in 1910. She was an African American actress and volunteer.

Born in Greenville, MS, actress Ruth Attaway is best known for her work in theater. She debuted on Broadway in 1936 and went on to work on various stages, on and off Broadway, for over 40 years. Attaway was the first director in the New York Players Guild. She also had experience working in radio and on television. When not acting, she worked for the American Red Cross and for the state of New York.

The Howard Theatre (Washinton D.C.) Opens

*The Howard Theatre Opened on this date in 1910.  This is a historic theater located at 620 T Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. Constructed in 1910, the theater was founded and owned by the National Amusement Company, a white-owned group. When built, it had a capacity of more than 1,200.   Designed by J. Edward Storck, […]