THE ORIGINS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PERFORMANCE ART
THE EARLIEST PLAYS WITH AFRICAN AMERICAN ACTORS
The first performances by African American actors on the American stage were in plays authored by White playwrights who provided Blacks with narrow opportunities to portray shallow characters. Often Blacks were cast in the role of the buffoon in order to appeal to the sensibilities of a bigoted public. In 1769, for example, the cast of Lewis Hallam’s comedy The Padlock included a West Indian slave character named Mongo, who was a clown to be played by a black. Other White-authored plays from the period that depicted blacks in demoralizing roles were Robinson Crusoe, Harlequin (1792), and The Triumph of Love (1795) by John Randolph, which included the native Black character named Sambo. Thus, the earliest appearances of Blacks on the American stage were as characters devoid of intellectual and moral sensibilitiy
THE AFRICAN GROVE THEATRE
New York City’s free African American community founded the first African American theater in 1821—the African Grove Theatre, located at Mercer and Bleecker streets “in the rear of the one-mile stone on Broadway.” A group of amateur African American actors organized by Henry Brown presented Richard III at the theater on October 1, 1821. The African Grove Theatre subsequently produced Othello, Hamlet and such lighter works as Tom and Jerry and The Poor Soldier, Obi.
One of the principal actors at the African Grove Theatre was James Hewlet, a West Indian-born Black who distinguished himself in roles in Othello and Richard III. Hewlet later toured England and billed himself as “The New York and London Colored Comedian.” Ira Aldridge, who later distinguished himself as one of the great Shakespearean tragic actors, was also a member of the permanent group that performed at the African Grove Theatre. Aldridge was cast in comic and musical roles as well as in Shakespearean tragedies.
The African Grove Theatre also featured the first play written and produced by an African American. The play was Henry Brown’s The Drama of King Shot-away, which was presented in June of 1823.
Because of disturbances created by whites in the audience, the local police raided the African Grove Theatre on several occasions. The theater was wrecked by police and hoodlums during one of these raids, which forced its closing in late 1823. The group of black actors affiliated with the African Grove Theatre, determined to preserve their company, continued for several years to present plays at different rented locations throughout New York City.
MINSTRELSY
Talented slaves were among the earliest African American entertainers in colonial and antebellum America. On plantations throughout the South, slave performers using clappers, jawbones, and blacksmith rasps danced, sang, and told jokes for the entertainment of their fellow slaves as well as their masters, who often showcased their talents at local gatherings. Some masters hired out talented slaves to perform in traveling troupes.
During the late 1820s and early 1830s, white entertainers, exposed to the artistry of black performers, began to imitate blacks in their routines. Blackening their faces with cork, these white entertainers performed jigs, songs, and jokes with topical allusions to blacks in their lyrics. Thus, the art of minstrelsy as a theatrical material was born.
White minstrel troupes in blackface became very popular on the American stage in the 1830s. Among some of the more famous white minstrel performers were Thomas Dartmouth Rice, “Daddy Rice,” the original “Jim Crow,” Edwin Forrest and Dan Emmett, and the Christy Minstrels.
Some traveling white minstrel troupes used black performers to enhance the authenticity of their productions. One such troupe was the Ethiopian Minstrels, whose star performer was William Henry Lane, an African American dancer who used the stage name “Master Juba.” Lane was one of the greatest dancers of his generation. Throughout the United States and England, “Master Juba” was enthusiastically praised by audiences and critics alike. One anonymous English critic, quoted by dance historian Marian Hannah Winter, wrote the following critique of one of Lane’s performances:
“Juba exceeded anything ever witnessed in Europe. The style as well as the execution is unlike anything seen in this country. The manner in which he beats time with feet, and the extraordinary command he possesses over them, can only be believed by those who have been present at the exhibition. (“Juba and American Minstrelsy.” Chronicles of the American Dance,edited by Paul Magriel.)”
Although black minstrel troupes began to appear in the 1850s, it was not until after the Civil War that they became established on the American stage. Although black minstrels inherited the negative stereotypes that white minstrels had established, the African American performer won a permanent place on the American stage providing a training ground for the many Black dancers, comedians, singers, and composers to come. Notable among these stage personalities were dancer-comedians Billy Kersands, Bert Williams, Bob Height, Dewey “Pig-meat” Martin, and Ernest Hogan; singers such as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith; and composers James Bland and William Christopher Handy. To a great extent, Black minstrelsy created a national appreciation for the talent of Black stage entertainers, drawing audiences to black shows and other forms of Black entertainment for generations to come.
RECLAIMING THE BLACK IMAGE: 1890 TO 1920
By the 1890s, African American producers, writers, and stage performers sought to reform the demeaning images of blacks that were prevalent on the American stage. The Creole Show, cast by African American producer Sam Jack in 1891, was the first all-black musical to depart from minstrelsy. The Creole Show, which was also notable for its inclusion of a chorus line, premiered in Boston in 1891 and later played at the Chicago World’s Fair for the entire season. In 1895, African American producer John W. Ishaw presented The Octoroon, another all-black musical that moved away from the minstrel tradition. Oriental America, which Ishaw also produced, broke further from minstrel conventions by not closing with the traditional walkaround, but with an operatic medley.
Between 1898 and 1911, 13 all-Black musicals opened on Broadway, showcasing the talents of African American musicians, lyricists, directors, producers, and writers.
Trip to Coontown, written and directed by Bob Cole in 1898, completely broke away from the minstrel tradition. The plot of this all-black performance piece was presented completely through music and dance. The first musical produced, written and performed by African Americans on Broadway, it ushered in a new era for blacks on the American stage.
The highly popular Clorindy: The Origin of the Cake-walk, with music by composer Will Marion Cook and lyrics by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, opened in 1898 at the Casino Roof Garden. Cook engaged the comic-dance duo of Bert Williams and George Walker and built the show around their talents. Comedian-singer Ernest Hogan was also featured. Hogan would later appear on Broadway in both Rufus Rastus and Oyster Man (1902). Bob Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson wrote and performed in The Shoo-Fly Regiment, another musical that opened on Broadway in 1902.
Williams and Walker premiered their first Broadway musical, The Policy Players, in 1899. This success was followed by the Sons of Ham, which played on Broadway for two seasons beginning in September of 1900. Their most famous musical, In Dahomey, premiered on Broadway in 1903 and after the long run, toured successfully in England. The Southerners, with music by Will Marion Cook, opened on Broadway in 1904 with an interracial cast starring Abbie Mitchell. The Williams and Walker team returned to Broadway in 1906 with a new musical Abyssinia, which consistently played to a full house. Williams and Walker appeared in their last Broadway production together entitled Bandanna Land in 1908. George Walker fell into ill health after the show closed and died in 1911.
Bert Williams went on to appear in Mr. Lord of Koal on Broadway in 1909 and later he was the star comedian performer in the Ziegfield Follies. The last black musical to open on Broadway before the 1920s was His Honor the Barber in 1911, with S. H. Dudley in the lead.
BLACK VAUDEVILLE
The unique world of Black vaudeville employed dancers, comics, and pantomimes who denied access to the American legitimate stage developed their own revues and routines that reflected the African American popular culture. The white owners of the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) hired the entertainers to play to black audiences in large and small towns across America from the early 1900s until the Great Depression.
Vaudeville was the stage where dancers, such as Bert Williams and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, polished the craft that helped them eventually move into the mainstream White theater. Comic Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham developed his legendary “Here Come Da Judge” routine. Tim Moore was wildly popular, later to be seen on Amos n’ Andy as the incorrigible “Kingfish.”
The cakewalk, a dance of slave origin, was said to be a parody of the showy party manners of slave owner families but its mimicry delighted the masters and mistresses. The cakewalk became a national and worldwide rage at the end of the nineteenth century, even though the black bourgeoisie condemned it as vulgar.
Just as the cakewalk was developed to make fun of a white dancing style, ragtime was a response to European classical music. Ragtime was derived from minstrel show tunes and New Orleans street marches. Pianists Ben Harvey and Scott Joplin made its distinctive rhythmic syncopation popular in the 1890s. One of the earliest examples of the form is the “Harlem Rag” of 1895.
Humor was used to cope with the pain and frustration of everyday life. Markham’s “Here Come Da Judge” routine was a critical farce on a legal system that afforded no justice or protection for African Americans. Ventriloquist Johnnie Woods with his sidekick Little Henry played the circuit as a dapper, prosperous gentleman berating and chiding the incorrigible dummy, dressed in a red check suit with bad manners and poor breeding. These comedy styles were later imitated by white performers such as Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, and Abbott and Costello, who were a success on the white stage where Blacks were not allowed.
What White folks derided as demeaning and vulgar became grist for the comic and satiric Black player. They took the White notions of low-class and made a joke of it. The subject of race on the Black stage was ground for debate, commiseration, derision, and mockery. But they also condemned bad manners and attitudes among themselves.
Although Black performers were often able to bridge the gap from folk and vaudeville entertainment to the musical classics and drama, White audiences typically expected them to restrict themselves to the more “Negroid” comedy routines and minstrel styles. However, the privileged few of high society saw some of the best of the Black players at the “colored clubs” such as the Cotton Club, Connie’s Inn, and the Club Alabam’ in New York. The Cotton Club boasted a Chorus Line of “tall, tan and terrific ”Black women as well as the hottest Black entertainment.
THE BLACK PERFORMER IN EUROPE 1900 TO 1920
Many Black performers who struggled on the American circuit found great success in Europe. The “black craze” of African American art, music, and dance took Paris by storm in the 1920s. Ballroom dancers such as Fredi Washington and Al Moore, the singers Bessie Smith and Josephine Baker, and producers such as Claude Hopkins found a receptive audience amongst “Roaring Twenties” Parisians. Europe was not as color-conscious as the United States. The elegant and refined Washington and Moore were so light-skinned that they were not totally accepted on the Black circuit with their “White style” act. However, Europe welcomed its sophisticated artistry and style.
Hopkins introduced singer Josephine Baker to Paris where she developed her flamboyant and provocative act before appreciative Europeans. In the Folies Bergère, Baker pushed the boundaries of nudity and innuendo in her singing and dancing and she remained an international sensation throughout her career.
The dancer and pantomime Johnny Hudgins was an enormous hit with Black and White audiences both in the United States and Europe. He was filmed by Jean Renoir in a short entitled Charleston in the 1920s, which left behind a detailed account of his act. His characters included the “Ballroom Dancer,” the “Ice Skater,” and the “Pullman Porter.” One of his more notable numbers involved him performing the Charleston in a lady’s feather-plumed straw hat.
