Negro Actors Guild of America records 1904-1982 1937-1982

Handy, W. C., 1873-1958

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W. C. Handy, also known as William Christopher Handy (born Florence, Alabama, November 16, 1873-died March 25, 1958, New York, New York), known as the "Father of the Blues," is credited with helping popularize blues music. In 1896, he joined W. A. Mahara's Minstrels, as its trumpeter-bandleader and began a theatrical production that featured African American music. In the early 1900s, he started writing his own music with the first published commercial blues song "Memphis Blues," which became a ...

Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993

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Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 (although throughout much of her life she gave her birth date as February 17, 1902) in south Philadelphia. Her father, John Berkley Anderson, sold ice and coal and her mother Annie Delilah Rucker Anderson was a former schoolmistress. She was the oldest of three sisters. She began singing when she was six, in the church choir, and by eight had become a regular substitute, filling in for absent sopranos, tenors and even bass. She was presented in one c...

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974

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Duke Ellington (b. Edward Kennedy Ellington, April 29, 1899, Washington, DC–d. May 24, 1974, New York, NY) was a composer, pianist, and jazz orchestra leader. He began piano lessons at 7 and wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag", in 1914. Ellington became a more serious piano student as a teenager after hearing poolroom pianists in Washington, DC. Ellington moved to Harlem, ultimately becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1920s. He began a regular booking at the Cott...

Waters, Ethel, 1896-1977

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Ethel Waters (born October 31, 1896, Chester, Pennsylvania–d. September 1, 1977, Chatsworth, California) was a musician and actress. She got her start in the 1920s in Baltimore, Maryland and also toured on the black vaudeville circuit. She began her singing career in Atlanta and then Harlem in the 1920s. She starred in many films and was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was the first African-American to star on her own television show and the first African-Am...

Childress, Alice

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Pioneering African-American writer, actress and director Alice Childress (1916-1994) was popularly known for her best-selling novel, "A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich," and her plays, most notably "Wedding Band: A Love Story in Black and White." In the 1930s she met and married Alvin Childress, best known for his role as Amos in the television series, "Amos and Andy. "She was a founding member of the American Negro Theatre, and in 1944 she and her husband Alvin appeared in "Anna ...

Brewster, Townsend, 1924-

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Gilbert, Mercedes

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Whipper, Leigh R. (Leigh Rollin), 1877-1975

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Character actor in the movies and theater, a founder of the Negro Actors Guild of America. From the description of Leigh Rollin Whipper papers, 1861-1963. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122346178 African American actor and playwright. From the description of Papers, 1864-1965. (Moorland-Spingarn Resource Center). WorldCat record id: 70941227 Leigh Whipper, one of America's best known character actors, was born in Charleston, South Carolina o...

Freeman, Kenn

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Wallace, Emmett Babe, 1909-2006

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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. From the guide to the Emmett "Babe" Wallace papers, 1937-1975, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.) Emmett "Babe" Wallace is a singe...

Jessye, Eva, 1895-1992

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Eva Jessye-Director of Music-Writer. b. Coffeyville, Kan.; educated Western University, Kansas City, Kan.; State University for Colored, Langston, OK. Director of Music, Morgan College, Baltimore, Md., 1920; Editorial staff, Afro-American, Baltimore, Md., one year. Won prizes: Essay, Music, Poetry, Interstate Literary Society of Kansas and the West; President Interstate Society, 1924. Director of Music, first all-Negro moving picture, "Hallelujah," produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation, di...

Negro Actors Guild

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Bush, Anita, 1883?-1974

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Razaf, Andy

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African American poet and lyricist. From the description of Papers, 1913-1962. (Moorland-Spingarn Resource Center). WorldCat record id: 70941193 Author, poet, lecturer. From the description of Autograph letter signed : Los Angeles, Calif., to Paul Strickland, 1952 Feb. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270923755 Songwriter, poet. From the description of Andy Razaf papers, 1918-1973, 1918-1963 (bulk). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122465885 ...

Negro Actors Guild of America

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The Negro Actors Guild was established in 1936 in New York City as a welfare and benevolent organization for black performers. The Guild was composed of six committees: finance, administrative, membership, entertainment, sick and welfare, with an executive board to oversee the activities of the committees. The finance committee kept records of all expenditures accrued; the administrative committee's duties were to oversee all office procedures; the membership committee s...

Robinson, Bill, 1878-1949

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Jazz dancer. From the description of Autograph card signed : [n.p.], [194-?]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270904716 ...

Hunter, Eddie

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