People, Locations, Episodes

Gloria Foster, Actress born

*Gloria Foster was born on this date in 1933.  She was a Black actress. Gloria Foster was born in Chicago, Illinois. As a young child, she was put into the custody of her maternal grandparents.  Eleanor Sudds and her grandfather, Clyde Sudds, raised Gloria Foster on a farm. Foster never knew who her father was, and she moved to Janesville, […]

Sam Gilliam, Artist born

*Sam Gilliam was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black color field painter and lyrical abstractionist artist. Sam Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the seventh of eight children born to Sam and Estery Gilliam. The Gilliams moved to Louisville, Kentucky, shortly after he was born. His father worked on the railroad; […]

Adolph Caesar, Actor born

On this date in 1933, Adolph Caesar, an African American actor, was born.

Born in Harlem, New York, Caesar graduated from George Washington High School in New York City. He enlisted in the Navy where he achieved the rank of chief petty officer.

Kenneth Young, Artist born

*Kenneth Young was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black artist, educator, and designer. Kenneth Victor Young was born in Louisville, Kentucky. In the 1950s, Young served in the United States Navy. He attended the University of Louisville to study design and physics, followed by additional studies at Indiana University and the […]

Leo Twiggs, Artist, and Educator born

*The birth of Leo Twiggs is celebrated on this date in 1934.  He is a Black artist and educator. Leo F. Twiggs was born in St. Stephens, South Carolina; as a child, he wanted to get a job where he could wear a collar and tie.  This was a modest goal and an extremely unlikely […]

Al Freeman Jr., Actor, and Teacher born

*Al Freeman Jr. was born on this date in 1934. He was a Black actor, writer and college (drama) professor.

Arthur Mitchell, Choreographer born

*Arthur Mitchell was born on this date in1934. He is an African American dancer, choreographer, and director of the Dance Theater of Harlem.

George Shirley, Vocalist, and Teacher born

George Shirley was born on this date in 1934. He is an African American concert vocalist, teacher, and lecturer.

Arthur L. Hall, Choreographer and Teacher born.

*Arthur L. Hall was born on this date in 1934. He was a Black dancer, choreographer, and teacher.  From Memphis, Tennessee, he was the son of Ms. Sally Yancey and Joshua Milton. He was raised by his mother and grandmother, Ms. Emma Yancey, on Beale Street and later in Washington, DC, where Ms. Sally remarried to Patrick […]

Ted Ross, Actor born

Ted Ross, an African American entertainer, was born on this date in 1934.

Theodore “Ted” Ross was from Zanesville, Ohio, but his mother, Elizabeth Russell, a nightclub singer in the 1920s and 1930s, moved the family to Dayton when young Ross was seven. He loved the clubs on West Fifth Street–Dayton’s answer to Harlem in the first half of the 20th century. While in junior high, Ross, who was big for his age, would dress up and strut into the Owl Club and The Palace Theater’s Midnight Rambles to see great acts such as Duke Ellington.

Diana Sands, Stage Actress born

“Look at me. Never mind my color. Please just look at me!” This quote belongs to Diana Sands, an African American actress, born on this date in 1934.

Lorraine O’Grady, Artist born

*Lorraine O’Grady was born on this date in 1934. She is a Black artist, writer, translator, and critic.          Life and work             O’Grady was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Jamaican parents Edwin and Lena O’Grady, who helped establish St. Cyprian’s, the first West Indian Episcopal church in Boston. Attracted to the form and aesthetics of the […]

The ‘Jitterbug’ (Dance) Goes Public

*On this date in 1935, the Jitterbug (dance) was introduced to the world.  Cab Calloway introduced it in his film Jitterbug Party.   In the film, he performed two songs at the Cotton Club, then took some friends to Harlem for a “Jitterbug Party.”  The Jitterbug is a dance popularized in the United States in the early 20th century and is associated […]

Ed Bullins, Playwright, and Author born

Ed Bullins, an African American playwright and author, was born on this date in 1935.

The Federal Theatre Project Begins

*On this date, in 1935, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was formed.  This theatre program was established during the Great Depression as part of America’s New Deal.   Referred to as part of the Second New Deal, it funded live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States. It was one of five Federal Project Number One projects the Works Progress Administration sponsored. It was created […]