People, Locations, Episodes

The Ethiopian Serenaders Are Formed

*The Ethiopian Serenaders are noted on this date in 1840.  From Boston, they were a white-American blackface minstrel troupe successful in the 1840s and 1850s. Through various line-ups, they were managed and directed by James A. Dumbolton and are sometimes mentioned as the Boston Minstrels, Dumbolton Company, or Dumbolton’s Serenaders.  The group was formed in […]

Grafton T. Brown, Artist of Western Beauty born

*On this date in 1841, Grafton Tyler Brown was born. He was an African American lithographer and painter.

Born of free ancestry in Pennsylvania, Brown followed the lure of the West to California in the mid-1850s, taking part in the expansion that would change the face of the nation. He was able to find work as a lithographer in San Francisco and in time formed his own business in 1866. Brown is considered the first Black professional artist in California.

Ellis Ruley, Artist born

*Ellis Ruley was born on this date in 1882.  He was a Black folk artist and laborer. Ellis Walter Ruley was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Joshua Ruley and Eudora Robinson. Joshua Ruley and Robinson had four sons and two daughters, of which Ellis Ruley was the oldest. One account describes the elder Ruley as […]

Edmonia Lewis, Sculptor Artist born

Edmonia Lewis was born on this date in the mid-nineteenth century, a pioneering Black artist believed to be the first woman sculptor of African American and Native American heritage.

Charles Porter, Artist, and Art Teacher born

*The birth of Charles Porter is celebrated on this date in 1847. He was a Black artist who specialized in still-life painting. Charles Porter was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His father was a mill worker, and his mother worked as a servant. Porter’s family moved to what was then the nearby village of Rockville (now part of […]

Sam Lucas, Stage Actor born

*Sam Lucas was born on this date in 1848.  He was a Black actor, comedian, singer, and songwriter.  Samuel Mildmay Lucas was from Washington Court House, Ohio; the son of free black parents. He showed a talent for guitar and singing as a teenager, and while working as a barber, his local performances gained him a reputation.  In 1858 he began his career […]

Marie Selika Williams, Vocalist born

*On this date in 1849, we celebrate the birth of Marie Selika Williams. She was a African American concert vocalist and educator. 

Ella Sheppard, Jubilee Singer born

*Ella Sheppard was born on this date in 1851. She was a Black musician, vocalist, and educator.

Jennie Jackson, Choral Singer born

*Jennie Jackson is celebrated on this date in 1852.  She was a Black singer and voice teacher. She was one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, a cappella ensemble. Jennie Jackson was born in Kingston, Tennessee. Her grandfather was enslaved in Andrew Jackson’s household. Her parents were also enslaved, but she was raised in freedom from an early […]

Claudio Brindis de Salas, Musician born

*Claudio Brindis de Salas was born on this date in 1852.  He was an Afro Cuban violinist and double bass player.  Born in Havana, his father was the violinist and bandleader Claudio Brindis de Salas. Young de Salas studied under his father, and maestros José Redondo and the Belgian José Van der Gutch (who lived […]

Maggie Porter, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Maggie Porter is celebrated on this date in 1853. She was a first-generation freed slave, teacher, and choral singer.   Maggie Porter was one of three daughters born in Lebanon, Tennessee, to a slave family belonging to Henry Frazier. At the start of the American Civil War, Frazier moved to Nashville, taking Maggie’s family […]

Ella Robinson Madison, Actress, and Singer born

*The birth of Ella Robinson Madison is celebrated on this date in 1854. She was an African American actress and singer.

Georgia Taylor, Jubilee Singer born

Georgia Gordon Taylor’s birth in 1855 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American vocalist.

From Nashville, Tennessee, she had a mulatto mother, Mercy Duke Gordon and a slave father, George Gordon. Mercy’s mother was white, and the law required that children of free mothers were free. Mercy had another child, Elwina, fathered by a white man (a “Doctor Warner”) before she married Gordon. Gordon was allowed to live in his free spouse’s household, hire out his own time, and pay part of his wages to his owner. Mercy and George had two children: Governor B. and Georgia.

Mary Eliza Walker Crump, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Mary Eliza Walker Crump is celebrated on this date in 1857. She was a Black contralto singer and Choir manager. Mary Eliza Walker was born in slavery near Nashville, Tennessee. “My mother belonged to Wesley Greenfield and my father to John W. Walker of Nashville,” she wrote in an 1873 publication. Her […]

Minnie Tate, Choral Singer born

*The birth of Minnie Tate is celebrated on this date in 1857. She was a choral singer and was the youngest original member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Minnie Tate was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the daughter of Andrew L. Tate and Adelle A. Livingston Tate. Her grandmother, Dicey Tanner, and mother, Adelle, were freed from […]