Found 30 collections related to African American singers

Opera director, concert singer, teacher, conductor and impresario, Dawson was the founder, president, and general manager of the National Negro Opera Company. Formed in 1941 due to Dawson's concern regarding the lack of opportunity for Afro-Americans in opera because of racial discrimination, for over 20 years the Company presented such productions as Verdi's Aida and La Traviata, and C.C. White's Ouanga. Among the featured opera singers were Minto Cato, Lillian Evanti, Muriel Rahn, Edward Boatner, and Robert McFerrin. Ms. Dawson also founded the Cardwell School of Music and the prize winning Cardwell-Dawson Chorus. At the time of Dawson's death in 1962, her proteges were appearing in the great opera houses of the world. Collection of documents relating to Dawson and the National Negro Opera Company. Collection includes a booklet describing the history and activities of the Company, biographical data on Dawson, and several certificates commending Dawson for her achivements and contributions to various organizations. less

Louis R. Sharp, African-American singer and actor graduated from the University of Kansas, where he sang with the University quartet. Moving to California in 1926, he studied voice with Theodore Ricardo, and settled in Harlem in the 1930s. A tenor, Sharp performed in concerts and recitals, singing in six languages. In 1931 Hall Johnson hired Sharp as a choral member of The Green Pastures in which he also played Cain. He had a major role as Toussaint L'Ouverture in the 1938 Federal Theatre Project's production of Haiti opposite Canada Lee's Christophe. Sharp was also in the original Broadway cast of such productions as Conjur Man Dies, Mamba's Daughters, Cabin in the Sky, South Pacific, St. Louis Woman, Finian's Rainbow, and Set My People Free. The Louis Sharp scrapbooks are comprised of two volumes. The first (1926-1946) contains news clippings and programs regarding Sharp's career, initially as a tenor performing in concerts, later as a singer and actor in Finian's Rainbow and in Broadway's St. Louis Woman, and Haiti, among other productions. There are several congratulatory letters and telegrams, including from Cab Calloway. The second scrapbook (1942-1947) consists of news clippings about African-American sports figures such as boxer Joe Louis and baseball player Jackie Robinson. less

African-American impresario and director of the Manhattan Concert Bureau, previously called the Manhattan Artist Bureau, a management firm for Black performers in the 1930s and 1940s. Correspondence, financial records, miscellaneous writings and printed matter documenting Charles Marshall's professional activities as director of the Manhattan Concert Bureau from 1937 to 1940, and the career and concert appearances of Black entertainers he represented or sought to represent: Heppie Ross, pianist and lecturer; Harry T. Burleigh, composer, and Massie Patterson, Ruby Elzy, Hazel Harrison and Aubrey Pankey, singers. Also included are letters from Marshall to colleges and universities regarding possible concert engagements, and a letter with attachments from Black historian and author Alexander Gumby. less

The Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections (HAJMTC) were formed by over two hundred file-folder level collections (one-three file folders per personality or event). The collections contain information dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, and they document early dramatic actors, minstrel shows, vaudeville, musical revues, Broadway productions, and protest dramas, among others. In addition to actors, playwrights, singers, musicians, and dancers and the productions in which they appeared, there are collections for poets and visual artists. less

The records contain personal and professional papers comprised of biographical materials, letters, writings, programs, music, a scrapbook and miscellaneous items. The Personal Papers consist of various forms of identification, letters and an obituary, among other items. less

Allan W. McMillan, a longtime columnist for The Amsterdam News and the first Black syndicated columnist, made his reputation as an entertainment writer, Broadway columnist, and publicist. The Allan W. McMillan public relations files document the public relations work of McMillan on behalf of his clients. less

African-American soprano soloist, Berniece Hall made her Broadway debut in Finian's Rainbow (1953), and from 1956 to 1958 she performed in De Paur's Opera Gala. She also performed with Voices Inc. in Trumpets of the Lord (1963) at the French National Festival of the Arts in Paris in 1966. After the Festival, Hall remained in Italy and toured several other European countries, performing in a variety of venues. She lived in Italy for 4 years returning to live permanently in the United States in 1970. The Berniece Hall Papers document her professional career in North America and Europe. The Personal papers are comprised of biographical information, correspondence from friends and well-wishers, and financial records. The Professional papers contain correspondence pertaining to Hall's professional life, performance schedules for various events, some materials pertaining to Voices, Inc., scripts, song lists and lyrics, programs, posters and newspaper clippings. less

Joseph Attles (1903-1991) was a singer and dancer whose career spanned six decades. The bulk of his collection consists of playscripts for shows that Attles appeared in, including Bubbling Brown Sugar by Loften Mitchell, C & W, John Henry, Jericho-Jim Crow, Prodigal Son, Troupers, and Do Lord Remember Me by James de Jongh. The collection also includes: correspondence, both professional and personal; contracts and financial documents; programs of productions Attles appeared in; lyrics; and clippings related to both himself and other show business personalities. less

Internationally known cabaret personality Bricktop, was born Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith in Alderson, West Virginia in 1894. Nicknamed "Bricktop" for her red hair, she began her career as an entertainer at the age of 16, performing on the vaudeville circuit with Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles in McCabe's Georgia Troubadours minstrel show, then later with the Oma Crosby Trio, and the Panama Trio with Florence Mills and Cora Green. She also performed in saloons in Chicago such as the Roy Jones' saloon and Cabaret de Champion, also known as Café Champ owned by boxer Jack Johnson, and in Harlem at Barron's Exclusive Club and Connie's Inn. Bricktop went on to own her own nightclubs in Paris (1920s and 30s), Mexico City (1940s), and Rome (1950s). Towards the end of her career she made appearances on radio broadcasts, performed at various establishments such as The Club Tango in Chicago, and introduced Josephine Baker for her "come-back" engagement at Carnegie Hall in 1973. She co-authored "Bricktop" (1983), her autobiography, with James Haskins. The Ada "Bricktop" Smith DuConge Papers, 1920s-1984, primarily document the latter part of Bricktop's life and career. The Papers consist of letters and cards, daily planners and address books, notes on religious thoughts and other subjects, financial papers, sheet music, and news clippings. The diaries range from the 1920s to 1983 and in some instances serve as daily planners and account books. The volumes hold information pertaining to both her personal and professional life. The earliest letters date from the 1950s, after she moved to Rome. Primarily they are from people Bricktop worked with during her career including Jack Jordan, James Haskins, Hugh Shannon, David Hanna, and Earl Blackwell. Additionally, there are promotional materials that relate to her career as an entertainer, e.g. fliers, programs; invitations, among them two from Bricktop's in Paris in 1937; letters from broadcasting agencies; magazines noting her appearance dates; and news clippings that include featured stories about Bricktop in arts, entertainment and society columns. 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

Soloist and leading soprano singer in the Mother Zion Church choir and Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in New York City. Jones spent most of her life in Orange County, Virginia, where she was active in church and community affairs. Collection includes Jones's passport and marriage certificate; broadsides and programs regarding her performances; and a portion of a handwritten poem. 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

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

Bertha Des Verney was a pianist, composer, arranger, writer, singer, playwright, concert promoter, and music teacher. The Bertha Des Verney papers include programs and flyers for musical events that she was involved in, annotated musical texts, scripts, holograph music of her arrangements and compositions, correspondence, and news clippings. From the Washington Music School there are reports, financial records, and a history of the school (1931). Material for the National Association of Negro Musicians includes programs for conventions. The collection also includes two scrapbooks, one of which contains news clippings and programs for musical concerts, primarily featuring African-American artists (1929-1957). The second scrapbook contains news clippings about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and other noteworthy events in the Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson families, as well as obituaries of a number of black personalities, and some musical programs (1936, 1959-1974). There are also a few letters in the collection. less

Edith Spencer was an international singer and dancer who appeared in vaudeville, the theatre and in nightclubs during the 1920s and 1930s. She appeared in the Broadway productions of "Runnin' Wild," "Rarin' to Go," and succeeded Florence Mills in "Shuffle Along." Her performances included club engagements and appearances from New York to Los Angeles, London, Paris, and the Far East. After "Shuffle Along" closed, Lottie Gee and Spencer became partners and formed a sister act that was followed by the addition of Allegretti Anderson. The trio was alternately billed as the Harmony Trio, the Creole Beauties, and the Three Dark Sisters. The Edith Spencer Scrapbook documents Spencer's entertainment career and her subsequent employment as a real estate agent. The contents include newspaper clippings, flyers and a photograph of Spencer, Gee and Anderson. less

The Schomburg Programs and Playbills collection consists of thousands of programs, playbills, and other ephemera, spanning the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, documenting Black theatrical, musical, and dance performances, as well as events put on by Black academic, community, religious, and political organizations. less

Sam Wooding was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and the accompanist-manager for his third wife, singer Rae Harrison. The Sam Wooding papers primarily document certain aspects of his career, with some files pertaining to his partnership with Rae Harrison and her early career. less

Best known for her performance in the title role of the original 1943-1944 Broadway production of Carmen Jones, Muriel Rahn (1911-1961) developed a reputation as a performer who was equally talented as a singer and an actress. The Muriel Rahn papers contain materials related to her performing career. less

This collection mostly contains material related to Raoul Abdul's career as a singer and author. There is a limited amount of personal information, including some clippings from his early life. A large part of the collection consists of concert programs and tour information. Additionally, there is material on lectures and seminars, and reviews and correspondence regarding his writing, including 3000 Years of Black Poetry, The Magic of Black Poetry, and Famous Black Entertainers of Today. less

Singer and actor Jules Bledsoe created the role of Jo and the interpretation of the song "Old Man River" in the original production of Show Boat (1927). This collection consists of correspondence, contracts, musical compositions, legal documents, financial records, programs, broadsides, and news clippings documenting Bledsoe's professional career, particularly in Europe. less

The Helen Brown scrapbook contains programs and reviews of plays and concerts that took place in New York City between 1926 and 1941. Included are articles and reviews of musicians, singers, actors, writers, such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and artists, such as Jacob Lawrence, Augusta Savage and James L. Allen. The programs represent a variety of performances, among them those by the Negro Opera Company and Hall Johnson's groups (the Hall Johnson Singers, Hall Johnson Jubilee Singers, and Hall Johnson Negro Choir). Also included are programs for Roland Hayes, Richard B. Harrison, Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Hazel Harrison, Abbie Mitchell, Jules Beldsoe, and the Eva Jessye Choir. The lyrics to some songs can also be found in the scrapbook.. less

This collection consists of personal and professional material of Nat King Cole, such as correspondence, programs, and advertisements. Additionally, there is printed matter, such as clippings and articles; scrapbooks; and scores, which is the largest series. Finally, there is material related to Cole's wife, Maria Cole, such as scrapbooks, biographical material, and drafts for a book. less

Earl L. Baker was a composer, musician, singer, writer, and orchestral librarian. The Earl L. Baker papers consists of 2 screenplays, Artabanus and Totivo, original manuscript musical scores composed by Baker and others; and research material on the West, focusing on Buffalo Soldiers and Black Indians. less

Ida Roley was a coloratura soprano and actress whose performances include a role in the 1923 edition of Jimmie Cooper's Revue, a burlesque show comprised of approximately seventy cast members, both African American and white. The white owner, producer and actor Jimmie Cooper, combined dancing, singing, jazz, comedy, and blackface in his company. The revue formed part of the circuit of the Columbia Amusement Company and performed in New York, Boston, London, and Montreal. Roley also performed in Shuffle Along (1922) and the play The Conjur Man Dies. She was the lead singer in the choir of Lew Leslie's road company of Blackbirds (1929) in Paris, later performing as a soloist and doing song recitals. She also wrote a few short stories. The Ida Roley collection consists of a scrapbook documenting the career of this entertainer, writings by her, and other material. The scrapbook contains news clippings and programs of Roley's performances in Jimmie Cooper's Revue, Lew Leslie's Blackbirds, Shuffle Along, and Plantation Days (1923), in addition to programs of her solo recitals. The scrapbook, which dates from 1923 to 1933 (bulk dates), also contains snapshots of Roley and other performers, news clippings about other singers, and productions in which she did not appear. In addition, the collection contains handwritten manuscripts for two stories Roley wrote in 1937, "Silver Dollars" and "The Unfaithful Wife." There are also two letters from W.C. Handy (1950) regarding his 77th birthday celebration. less

Fred Thomas ( - 2001) was a baritone vocalist. In addition to performing, he was active in the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM), serving as the association's treasurer for many years. The Fred Thomas papers, dating from 1931 to 1998, consist primarily of the records Thomas accumulated as treasurer of NANM. They also hold scrapbooks, letters, programs, clippings, and photographs documenting the singer's performance career; and the papers of Alfred Howe, a friend of Thomas's. less

Harry Belafonte was a Jamaican-American musician, actor, and activist best known for popularizing calypso music with international audiences, and his involvement in the American Civil Rights movement. His collection contains project files, correspondence, scrapbooks, press materials, scores, lyrics, and scripts that chronicle his career as a singer, songwriter, actor, public speaker, and advocate for political and humanitarian causes. Belafonte's papers reveal the business aspects of his performance projects, source material for his acting and singing career, and organizing efforts associated with the political causes he championed. less