*On this date 1994, (Shakespeare’s birthday) we celebrate the founding of the African American Shakespeare Company (AASC). AASC is the only company of Black actors in the United States that perform European Classical works. Located in San Francisco the company was founded by Sherri Young. The Theatre company has expanded to include a full production […]
learn more*On this March date (National Theater Month), 1925, we celebrate the Krigwa Players. Also known as the Krigwa Players Little Negro Theatre and named for the acronym CRIGWA: Crisis Guild of Writers and Artists) was one of the most prominent and popular theatre groups based out of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. Though it only […]
learn more*Eulalie Spence was born on this date in 1894. She was a Black writer, teacher, stage director, actress and playwright. Eulalie Spence was born on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies to Robert and Eno Lake Spence, the oldest of seven girls. She spent her formative years on her father’s sugar plantation. […]
learn more*Ruth Shelton was born on this date in 1872. She was a Black writer and playwright. Ruth Gaines-Shelton was from Glasgow, Missouri; she was 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 […]
learn more*T.J. Anderson was born this date in 1928. He is a Black musician and composer. From Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson Anderson has received degrees from West Virginia State College, Penn State University, and a PhD in Composition from the University of Iowa. He also holds several honorary degrees. During this time, Anderson married his wife, […]
learn more*John W. Cooper was born on this date in 1873. He was a Black ventriloquist and singer. From Brooklyn, New York, he lost both of his parents at a very young age. Cooper received his education at Professor Dorsey’s Institute in Brooklyn. While at Dorsey he developed into a promising entertainer and took a special […]
learn more*Douglas Turner Ward was born on this date in 1930. He is a Black playwright, actor, director, and theatrical producer. His birth name was, Roosevelt Ward Jr., and he was born in Burnside, Louisiana. His mother was Dorothy Ward (née Short) and his father was Roosevelt Ward, both plantation workers. His great, great grandmother […]
learn more*The birth of Hilda Wilkinson Brown is celebrated on this date in 1894. She was a Black artist and teacher. Hilda Rue Wilkinson was born in Washington D.C and was the only one of five grandchildren to have remained in Washington, D.C., where her great-grandmother first moved after being freed from slavery in 1835. […]
learn more*Lilian Thomas Burwell was born on this date in 1927. She is a sculptor and painter. Lilian Thomas Burwell was born in Washington, DC. into a creative family, her father was a photographer and her mother an artist and craftsperson, and both taught art. Her aunt, Hilda Wilkinson Brown, was a renowned painter. She was educated […]
learn more*Samuel Felrath Hines Jr. was born on this date in 1913. He was a Black visual artist and art conservator. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Hines began studying art in 1926 after receiving a scholarship for youth classes at the John Herron School of Art Saturday School. After graduating high school in 1931, Hines worked for the Civilian […]
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