People, Locations, Episodes

Blackface in America, a story

*Blackface in America is affirmed on this date in 1441. Blackface is a form of theatrical or media makeup. It is used mainly by white performers to portray a caricature of a black person of African descent. There is no agreement about a single moment that constitutes the origin of blackface. The journalist and cultural […]

Maria Thurston Williams, Film Producer, born

*Maria Thurston Williams was born on this date in 1866. She was a Black teacher, editor, actress, and film producer.   Maria Priscilla Thurston was from Kansas City, Missouri. A one-time schoolteacher, Williams had a history of activism, independence, and interest in the liberal arts. This interest led her first to newspapers, then to film production, […]

Madame Sul-Te-Wan, Actress born

Madame Sul-Te-Wan, an African American actress, was born on on this date in 1873. Wan was the first Black woman contracted to appear in one of the most controversial films in American Cinematic history, “Birth of a Nation.”

D. W. Griffith, Film Director born

*On this date in 1875, “D. W.” Griffith was born.  He was a white-American film director.   David Wark “D. W.” Griffith was born on a farm in Oldham County, Kentucky, the son of Jacob Wark “Roaring Jake” Griffith and Mary Perkins.  His father was a Confederate Army colonel in the American Civil War who was elected as a Kentucky state legislator.  Young Griffith was raised as a […]

Bill Robinson, Dancer born

On this date in 1878, Bill Bojangles Robinson was born. He was an African American tap dancer and entertainer.

Richard S. Roberts, Photographer born

The birth of Richard Samuel Roberts in 1880, an African American still photographer, is celebrated on this date.

George Herriman, Cartoonist born

*George Herriman was born on this date in 1880. He was an African American cartoonist whose comic strip Krazy Kat has been said by many to be America’s greatest cartoon.

Noble Johnson, Actor, and Producer born

Noble Johnson was born on this date in 1881. He was a nineteenth century African American actor and producer.

Filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux born

On this date we recall the birth of Oscar Micheaux in 1884. He was an African American novelist, businessman, and pioneer filmmaker who was best known for his dramatic movies about Black life.

He was born near Murphysboro, Illinois. At the age of 17, Micheaux traveled to Chicago, where he worked as a shoeshine boy and Pullman porter. In 1904, he bought a homestead in South Dakota where the frontier environment gave him a generous amount of material for several of his most important books and movies.

William D. Foster, Film Producer, born

*The birth of William D. Foster is celebrated on this date in 1884. Sometimes referred to as Bill Foster, he was a pioneering Black film producer. William Foster was born in Chicago, Illinois. He started his career as a sportswriter for the Chicago Defender, writing under the name Juli Jones. Foster periodically wrote for other newspapers […]

Tim Moore, Actor born

On this date we celebrate the birth of Tim Moore, an African American actor and entertainer, in 1888.

Clarence Muse, Film Actor, and Writer born

On this date, we mark the birth of Clarence Edouard Muse, born in 1889 in Baltimore. He was an African American lawyer, writer, director, composer, and actor.

Richard E. Norman, Filmmaker born

*Richard E. Norman was born on this date in 1891. He was a white-American filmmaker. From Middleburg, Florida, he was the son of Ricard and Katheryn Bruce Norman. Richard Edward Norman started his film career in the Midwest, making movies for white audiences in the 1910s. His early work was a series of “home talent” […]

Spencer Williams Jr., Film Actor, Director, and Producer born

Spencer Williams Jr. was born on this date in 1893. He was an African American film and TV actor and director.

Hattie McDaniel, Actress born

This date marks the birthday of Hattie McDaniel in 1895. She was an African American actress, one of the greatest American character actresses.