- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186198", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"SCP 186198", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b22961845", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1928-2018", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1928/2018"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Gertrude Hadley Jeannette photographs"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"21 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"9.29 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Gertrude Hadley Jeannette (1914-2018) was a Black actor, playwright, director, and theatre producer. She began writing plays in 1950 and founded the Harlem-based HADLEY Players company in 1979. The collection dates from 1928 to 2018, and depicts her personal life and professional work through prints and negatives."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Jeannette, Gertrude, 1914-2018", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gertrude Hadley Jeannette was a Black playwright, producer, director, Broadway actress, and civil rights activist who was also one of the first women licensed as a taxicab driver in New York City. She was born in Urbana, Arkansas on November 28, 1914 to Willis Lawrence Hadley and Sallie Gertrude Crawford Hadley. During the Great Depression, the family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where Jeannette attended Dunbar High School. She met Joe Jeannette II (1910-1992), a former prizefighter and president of the Harlem Dusters motorcycle club, during her high school prom. They eloped to New York City in 1933 and settled in Harlem. In 1935, Jeannette became the first woman licensed to drive a motorcycle in New York City. That same year, their only son, Robert, was born. He died in 1940.</p> <p>Jeannette enrolled in shorthand classes in the basement of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, and took acting and speech therapy with the American Negro Theater (ANT). In order to pay for the acting lessons, Jeannette became a taxicab driver. She passed the test in 1942, and became one of the first licensed female cab drivers in New York City. She continued to drive a cab until 1949. That same year, both Jeannette and her husband were present at the Peekskill Riots, working as bodyguards for singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.</p> <p>Jeannette's seventy-year career in theater, television, and movies began in 1945, when she was cast as the lead role in Our Town. She debuted on Broadway in 1949's <span class=\"title\">Lost in the Stars</span>, which ended her career as a cabdriver. Her other Broadway credits include originating roles in <span class=\"title\">The Long Dream</span> (1960), <span class=\"title\">Nobody Loves an Albatross</span> (1963), <span class=\"title\">The Amen Corner</span> (1965), <span class=\"title\">The Skin of Our Teeth</span> (1975), and <span class=\"title\">Vieux Carré</span> (1977). Some of her film credits include <span class=\"title\">Nothing But a Man</span> (1964), <span class=\"title\">Cotton Comes to Harlem</span> (1970), and <span class=\"title\">Black Girl</span> (1972).</p> <p>Jeannette began writing plays in 1950 in response to an absence of authentic Black characters on the stage. Despite being blacklisted during the Red Scare due to her and her husband's associations with Robeson, she wrote <span class=\"title\">A Bolt from the Blue</span> (1948), <span class=\"title\">The Way Forward</span> (1948), <span class=\"title\">Light in the Cellar</span> (1960), <span class=\"title\">Open House</span> (1974), <span class=\"title\">Who's Mama's Baby, Who's Daddy's Child?</span> (1985), and <span class=\"title\">Gladys' Dilemma</span> (1990).</p> <p>In 1979, Jeannette founded the Harlem Artists Development League Especially for You (HADLEY) Players, with the mission to develop theatrical talent and enrich cultural life in the Harlem neighborhood.</p> <p>Jeannette earned numerous accolades. She received the Outstanding Pioneer Award from the Audience Development Committee (AUDELCO) in 1984, the AT&T and Black American Newspaper's 1987 Personality of the Year Award, and the 1992 Harlem Business Recognition Award from the Manhattan Section of the National Council of Negro Women. In 1991, Jeannette was honored as a living legend at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She received the Lionel Hampton Legacy Award in 1998. In 1999, she was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, and received the Paul Robeson Award from the Actor's Equity Association in 2002. She continued to act into her eighties, and retired from directing at the age of ninety-eight.</p> <p>Gertrude Hadley Jeannette died on April 4, 2018 at her home in Harlem.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Gertrude Hadley Jeannette photographs, dated from 1928 to 2018, depict her personal life and her various careers as an actor, writer, director, and founder of the HADLEY Players through prints and negatives. The collection is ordered into the following groupings: Personal and Professional, and both are arranged chronologically by topic.</p> <p>Personal photographs, dated 1928 to 2018, contain images of social events, gatherings, holidays, and birthday celebrations throughout Jeannette's life. Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s is particularly well documented through photographs of motorcycle club outings; Joe Jeannette II during his pugilist career; and Black bars, dance halls, and diners. There are also photographs that depict vacations and day trips to New York City beaches, including Coney Island and the Rockaways.</p> <p>The Professional photographs showcase Jeannette's trajectory in theatre after joining the American Negro Theatre (ANT), including images of <span class=\"title\">Lost in the Stars</span> (1948), her first appearance on Broadway. Dated 1948 to 2017, the images depict productions performed, written, or directed by Jeannette; the HADLEY Players and other theatre companies; fundraisers; awards; theatre festivals; ANT reunions; and performance showcases. Plays written by Jeannette present in this grouping include <span class=\"title\">The Way Forward</span> (1948-1950), <span class=\"title\">A Bolt from the Blue</span> (1950), and <span class=\"title\">Gladys' Dilemma</span> (1990).</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Angela Hadley Brown, April 2019.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photographs transferred from the Gertrude Hadley Jeannette papers in Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Schomburg Center.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Em Longan</span> in <span class=\"date\">2023</span>.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1928
- keydate
-
1928
- date_end
-
2018
- date_inclusive_start
-
1928
- date_inclusive_end
-
2018
- extent_statement
-
9.29 linear feet (21 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Gertrude Hadley Jeannette photographs, Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library"}