People, Locations, Episodes

Helen Martin, Actress born

*Helen Martin was born on this date in 1909.  She was a Black actress on stage and television.   Helen Dorothy Martin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of William Martin, a minister, and Amanda Frankie Fox. Raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Martin attended segregated public schools.  Martin led a band and performed with local theater groups during her teenage years. For […]

Robert E. Jones, Actor born

*Robert E. Jones was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black actor and professional boxer. Robert Earl Jones was born in n Senatobia, or Coldwater, Mississippi, the son of Robert and Elnora Jones. He left school early to work as a sharecropper to help his family. Jones later became a prizefighter. Under the name […]

Nick Stewart, Actor born

*On this date in 1910, Nick Stewart was born. He was a Black actor who founded Los Angeles’ Ebony Showcase Theater.

Scatman Crothers, Actor born

Scatman Crothers, an African American actor and musician, was born on this date in 1910.

Born in Terre Haute, IN, Benjamin Sherman Crothers (his name at birth) was the son of a cobbler at the age of 14 he began to teach himself to play the drums and guitar. Soon he got a job entertaining customers at one of the local speakeasies, and at the age of 19, he and his brother, Louis, moved to Indianapolis to find work as entertainers.

Ruth Attaway, Stage, Screen, and TV Actress born

Ruth Attaway was born on this date in 1910. She was an African American actress and volunteer.

Born in Greenville, MS, actress Ruth Attaway is best known for her work in theater. She debuted on Broadway in 1936 and went on to work on various stages, on and off Broadway, for over 40 years. Attaway was the first director in the New York Players Guild. She also had experience working in radio and on television. When not acting, she worked for the American Red Cross and for the state of New York.

Butterfly McQueen, Actress born

On this date we point out the birth of Butterfly McQueen in 1911. She was an African American actress who portrayed Scarlett O’Hara’s squeaky-voiced maid, Prissy in Gone With The Wind.

Rosetta LeNoire, Actress, and Producer born

*Rosetta LeNoire was born on this date in 1911. She was an African American actress and producer.

Nina McKinney, Actress born

*Nina M. McKinney is remembered on this date, born in 1912. She was an African American actress and entertainer; she was one of the first Black actress’ to make her name in American cinema.

Gordon Parks, Photographer, and Film Producer born

*On this date in 1912, Gordon Parks was born. He was an African American photographer and filmmaker.

Gordon Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas and was the youngest of fifteen children. His mother’s death at a young age and his father’s inability to manage the household led to the family’s break-up, and Parks moving to Minneapolis with his married sister. Unwelcome in his brother-in-law’s house, he soon found himself living on his own struggling to attend school and support himself.

Frank Silvera, Actor born

Frank Silvera was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American actor.

He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moved to the United States with his family, where he grew up and attended Boston Public Schools.

Edna Mae Harris, Actress born

*Edna Mae Harris was born on this date in 1914. She was an African American actress.

Harris was born in Harlem, New York, to Sam and Mary Harris. Her father was a boxer and customs inspector and her mother worked as a maid for gay 90s pin-up Lillian Russell. Harris’ family was among the first African American families to migrate to Harlem. They settled near the Lafayette Theater. After the relocation, Harris was encouraged to pursue a career in show business by performers Ethel Waters and Maud Russell who frequently dined at the Harris household.

Gertrude Hadley Jeannette, Actress, and Playwright born

*Gertrude Hadley Jeannette was born on this date in 1914.  She was a Black playwright and film and stage actress.   Born Salley Gertrude Crawford Hadley in Urbana, Arkansas, her mother was a homemaker. Willis Lawrence Hadley, her father, taught at a Native American reservation near Spiro, Oklahoma.  Jeannette had five brothers and one sister and grew up on a farm. The family moved to Little Rock, […]

The Film, ‘Birth of a Nation’ is Released

*On this date in 1915, the film The Birth of a Nation was released. Originally called The Clansman, it was American silent epic drama film directed and co-produced by D. W. Griffith and starring white-American actress Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from the novel and play The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and co-produced the film with Harry Aitken. The Birth of a Nation is a landmark in […]

Orson Welles, Stage and Film Director born

*Orson Welles was born on this date in 1915. He was a white-American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. George Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the son of Richard Head Welles and Beatrice Ives Welles. His parents separated and moved to Chicago in 1919. His father, who made a fortune as an […]

The Lincoln Motion Picture Company is Formed

The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was founded on this date in 1916, the first movie company owned and controlled by Black filmmakers.