People, Locations, Episodes

Step’n Fetchit, Vaudeville, and Film Actor born

On this date in 1902, Step’n Fetchit was born. He was an African American actor known for his stereotypical film portrayal of Black minstrel characters.

Rex Goreleigh, Artist born

*On this date in 1902, Rex Goreleigh was born. He was an African American painter.

From Peullyn, Pennsylvania, Goreleigh became interested in art at an early age as images helped his communication overcome his own shyness, which came from a childhood speech impediment. When he was fifteen, his mother died and he left for Philadelphia. In 1918, he moved to Washington D. C., attending Dunbar High School for two years.

Theodore Ward, Playwright born

*James Theodore Ward was born on this date in 1902. He was an African American author and playwright.

Thelma D. Brown, Playwright, and Teacher born

*Thelma Duncan Brown was born on this date in 1902.  She was a Black writer, teacher, and stage producer.   A St. Louis, Missouri-born writer, she received her college education at Howard University, Washington, DC, and Columbia University, New York. At Howard, during the 1920s, she discovered her writing talents under the tutelage of Thomas […]

James Lesesne Wells, Artist, and Teacher born

*James Lesesne Wells was born on this date in 1902. He was an African American educator, artist and photographer.

Wilfredo Lam, Afro Cuban Artist born

*Wilfredo Lam was born on this date in 1902. He was an Afro Cuban artist.

Born (Wifredo Yscar de la Concepayn Lam y Castilla) Lam was from Sagua La Grande, a small town in Cuba. His father was Chinese and his mother was African, Spanish and Native-Cuban. Young Lam had artistic talent as a young man; he went to Havana to study law, and also learned painting at the Academy of San Alejandro. In 1923, he traveled to Madrid to further his artist studies. During that time (1929) he married Eva Piriz but both she and their young son died in 1931 of Tuberculosis.

Lucreaty Clark, Folk Artist born

*Lucreaty Clark was born on this date in 1903.  She was a Black folk artist known for basket weaving. Lucreaty J. Clark was born in rural Jefferson County, Florida. She was one of the youngest of sixteen children in a sharecropping family that worked on plantations, picking cotton and performing other farm-related tasks. She learned how to weave […]

Robert Todd Duncan, Singer, and Teacher born

*On this date in 1903, Robert Todd Duncan was born in Danville, KY. He was an African American singer.

The First Black Play On Broadway Opens

*On this date in 1903, In Dahomey opened, at the New York Theater. This was a landmark American musical comedy and was “the first full-length musical written, produced and performed by Blacks at a major Broadway Theater.

It featured music by Will Marion Cook from the book by Jesse A. Shipp, and lyrics by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The production was produced by McVon Hurtig and Harry Seamon and starred Black actors James Smith and George Sisay and one of the leading comedians in America at that time, Bert Williams.

In Dahomey ran for 53 performances.

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Edwin Rosskam, Photographer born

*Edwin Rosskam was born on this date in 1903.  He was a white Jewish-American freelance photographer and writer.   Edwin Rosskam was born in Munich, Germany, to American parents and came to Philadelphia, PA, in his late teens in 1919.  Rosskam aspired to be an artist and took up painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  It was here […]

Dick Campbell, Stage Actor, and Theater Advocate born

*Dick Campbell was born on this date in 1903.  He was a Black actor, theater advocate, and community activist.   Born Cornelius Coleridge Campbell in Beaumont, Texas. Orphaned at six, he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Pauline Snow. He was a janitor at his local high school before attending Paul Quinn College in Waco, […]

“The Charleston” (Dance Style), a story

The Charleston is celebrated on this date. This is a dance style influenced by African culture and started durinhg Bblack slavery in America.

Buck Washington, Dancer born

Buck Washington was born on this date in 1903. He was an African American dancer, recognized as one of vaudeville’s best-known all-around entertainers and innovators.

Fredi Washington, Actress born

*On this date in 1903, Fredi Washington was born. She was an African American actress, writer, dancer, and singer.

From Savannah, Georgia, Fredericka Carolyn Washington’s education began at St. Elizabeth Convent in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania. She then attended the Egri School of Dramatic Writing and the Christopher School of Languages, where her attractions included casting, writing, dancing, singing, and civil rights. Washington’s career began dancing in nightclubs. From 1922 to 1926, she toured with Sissle and Blake’s Shuffle Along.

Elisabeth Welch, Singer, and Dancer born

*Elisabeth Welch was born on this date in 1904. She was a African American chanteuse singer and dancer.