1896 The
Gold Bug (21 September 1896) at the Casion Theatre
starring Bert Williams and Geoge Walker; production introduced the Cake
Walk dance
music by Victor Herbert; book / lyrics by Glen MacDonough
1896 only ten minstrel companies performing in the United States
1898 Clorindy;
or, The Origin of the Cakewalk (28 June 1898) Casino Theatre Roof
Garden
first all-black written, black-performed show to play before white audiences
music written by Will Marion Cook (1869-1944); book / lyrics by Paul Laurence
Dunbar
1898 A
Trip to Coontown ( 4 April 1898) at the Third Avenue Theatre
first black musical to break from the minstrel pattern; music by Bob Cole
first black show to be organized, directed, performed, produced, and managed
by blacks
1903 In
Dahomey (2-18-03) at the New York Theatre for 53 performances
Broadway's first black musical in a major house; starring Bert Williams
and George Walker
book by A.J. Skipp (Jesse Shipp), lyrics by Paul Laurence Dunbar
ran for seven months in London at the Shaftesbruy Theatre (1903)
reopened on Broadway (1904) prior to US tour
400% profit to producers -- dispelled notion that all-black shows lose
money
1910 Bert Williams first black to receive equal billing with whites on Broadway (Ziegfeld Follies)
1917 Willis Richardson's
Three
Plays for a Negro Theatre at the Old Garden Theatre in NYC
the beginning of serious drama about and by American Negro
1917 only three minstrel companies performing in the United States
1920 Eugene
O'Neill creates the first important black figure in original American dramatic
lit.
Emperor Jones, first played by Charles Gilpin
Andrew "Rube" Foster formed the Negro National Baseball League
1921 first all-black
revuew -- by Noble Sissie and Eubie Blake; made tap dance popular
Shuffle Along included Florence Mills and Josephine Baker
1 yr. on Broadway and 2 yrs. on the road -- first black musical to play
white theatres
1923 Willis Richardson's
The
Chip Woman's Fortune
first serious play (one-act play) by a black playwright to be produced
on Broadway
1924 Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings
VII Olympics in Paris; DeHart Hubbard the first African-American to win
a gold medal in an
individual event
1925
Garland Anderson's Appearances on Broadway
first full-length serious play by a black playwright to be produced on
Broadway
1926 W.E.B. Du Bois est. the Krigwa Little Theatre Movement in NYC
1927
first anthology Plays of Negro Life: A Sourcebook of Native American
Dramas
included plays by black and white authors
Show Boat (12-27-27) at the Ziegfeld Theatre for 572 performances
Paul Green won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for his Negro folk play, In Abraham's Bosom
1930 Plays and Pageants from the Life of the Negro published, edited by Willis Richardson
1933
Marc Connelly's The Green Pastures
Hall Johnson's Run Little Chillun' both on Broadway
first Black All-Star Baseball game between the East and West Leagues
1934 Eugene Von Grona est. the American Negro Ballet
1935 Negro History in Thirteen Plays published, edited by Willis Richardson and May Miller
Porgy and Bess (10-10-35) on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre
for 124 perf.
"An American Folk Opera" by George and Ira Gershwin, and DuBose Heyward
1936 first African-American man to graduate from West Point -- Benjamin O. Davis
1938 Café Society Downtown was the first completely desegregated night club in the country
1939
Marion Anderson denied use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
performed concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday for 75,000
1940 Richard Wright's novel Native Son
1947 Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in baseball when he is hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers
1953 Leontyne Price sings at the Metropolitan Opera House
1955
first blacks in classical ballet: Arthur Mitchell in New York City Ballet
and Raven Wilkerson in Ballet Russe
Marian Anderson sings at the Metropolitan Opera House