Found 13 collections related to African American motion picture actors and actresses

Pearl Bailey (1918-1990) was an African American actress and singer. In films, she was known chiefly for two roles: Maria in Porgy and Bess(1959) and Frankie in Carmen Jones (1954). She was also known for her starring role on Broadway in an all-Black cast version of Hello Dolly. During World War II, Bailey toured with the USO, performing for American troops. Beginning in 1946, she was a top attraction in nightclubs, variety houses, and television programs in the United States and Britain. At age 67, in 1985, she graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in theology. Between 1968 and 1989, she published six books on her life, cooking, and educational experiences. Bailey served as a special ambassador to the United Nations in 1975 and 1989, and in 1988, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Pearl Bailey letters (1943-1989) consist of correspondence between Bailey and her friend, Lillian Morrison, a published author, compiler, and editor of children's and young adult books as well as a librarian at the New York Public Library, 110th Street Branch. Most of the letters were written by Bailey, and refer to her various endeavors, including her USO work at Fort Huachucha in Arizona; recordings of the song "Tired", which was one of her hit songs; Disney's The Fox and the Hound, for which she provided one of the voices; and her service with the United Nations. As both women were published authors, several of the letters make reference to this fact and to their long friendship and shared birthday, March 29, 1918. The letters do not provide a great amount of detail about Bailey's show business career. less

The collection documents Julian Mayfield's career as a writer, educator and actor, and his activities as a political expatriate in West Africa and Guyana. Significant correspondents include fellow African-American expatriates and friends Maya Angelou, Herman Kofi Bailey, Sylvia Boone, William Branch, Tom Feelings, David DuBois, Preston King, Jim Lacy, Calvin and Elinor Sinnette, and Alice Windom. Other correspondents are John Henrik Clarke, Jules Dassin, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, James Forman, Richard Gibson, Gloria Joseph, Woodie King, Paul Mann, William Marshall, Truman Nelson, and Conor Cruise O'Brien. less

Emmett "Babe" Wallace is a singer, composer, actor and writer. He has performed in cabarets, musical revues, films and the theater. As a composer and writer, he has produced a voluminous body of musical compositions, poetry essays and journals. Music, songs, poetry, prose, daybooks, scripts, personal papers, printed material, and other papers, relating to Wallace's career in cabarets, musical revues, films, and theater in the United States, Canada, France, and Israel. Themes in his creative work include personal life, civil rights, religion, and politics. less

Correspondence, plays, poems, sketches, and song lyrics by Whipper and others, including a musical comedy by Whipper and Porter Grainger entitled "We's Risin': A Story of the Simple Life in the Souls of Black Folk." Majority of the correspondence is congratulatory. Also, photographs and scrapbook of highlights in Whipper's career and programs, autograph books, and contracts pertaining to his career. less

Collection consists predominantly of material relating to Lena Horne's one woman Broadway production and national and international tour of "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music" (1981-1984). Papers contain fan mail, a small amount of business, personal and family correspondence; press coverage (newspaper and magazine clippings and audio and video reviews); publicity and public relations material; programs; financial data and certificates (proclamations, awards and honors). less

This collection consists mostly of screenplays and television scripts, some of in which Delroy Lindo acted and others for which he possibly auditioned. Some scripts were written by Black writers (such as America's Most Wanted by Keenan Ivory Wayans) and others featured Black actors or Black directors (including Kansas City with Harry Belafonte, and Clockers, directed by Spike Lee); other scripts feature Black subjects, such as Miss Evers Boys. less

The Kenn Freeman Papers, 1930-1988 document Freeman's life as an actor, singer/dancer, writer/director, and costume and set designer. The collection consists of three series; Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Family Papers, and include correspondence, programs, flyers, contracts, writings, scripts, sheet music, scrapbooks, and autograph albums. Correspondence between Kenn and Bea Freeman forms an important part of both the Personal Papers and Family Papers series. The letters show the close personal and professional relationship between mother and son. The bulk of the correspondence covers the years, 1937 to 1950, and was written primarily during the years Kenn was in the United States Navy or in England or when either of them was on tour with a production. less

Actor, Earl Sydnor appeared on and off-Broadway, on television, and in film. He began his acting career after performing with the New Jersey Federal Theatre Company. Throughout his career, he worked with Katherine Dunham, Ethel Waters, Henry Fonda, James Earl Jones, and Lou Gossett, Jr. in various plays such as "Cabin in the Sky," "Kiss The Boys Goodbye," "First Monday in October" and the films, "The Emperor Jones" and "Take A Giant Step." As a young man Sydnor wrote poetry and several of his poems were published in black literary magazines. Sydnor died on July 9, 1989. Papers documenting the acting career of Earl Sydnor. The papers are divided in two series, Personal and Professional, which include correspondence, biographical material, newspaper articles and reviews, and playbills. Additionally, there are two scrapbooks dealing with his acting career and service in the Army Air Force in 1943. A third scrapbook relates to his appearance, with his wife Virginia, in "The American Home" magazine in 1945, which became a controversial issue because the magazine had never featured blacks before. less