DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT BLACK HISTORY IN
ENTERTAINMENT?
Filmmaker Oscar Micheaux is born on
January 22, 1884.
Ray Charles’ “I Can’t Stop Loving
You” stays on at top of Billboard charts for 100 straight weeks
in 1962.
In 1964, Sidney Poitier becomes the
first African American male to receive an Oscar. He gets it for
his performance in “Lilies of the Field”.
Pianist Andre Watts makes his debut
at age 16 with the New York Philharmonic in 1963,
Singer Nat ‘King’ Cole dies on Feb.
15, 1965 in Santa Monica, California.
Dorothy Dandridge, first African
American woman nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress dies
on September 8, 1965 in Hollywood. Ms. Dandridge was nominated
for her role in “Carmen Jones”.
Dancer Judith Jamison debuts with
Alvin Ailey’s Dance Troupe.
The Negro Ensemble Company is
formed in New York in 1967.
Singer Otis Redding dies on Dec.
10, 1967 in a plane crash. Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the
Bay” was released posthumously and topped the charts for four
weeks in 1968.
In 1967, Aretha Franklin records
“Respect,” written by Otis Redding.
In 1968, ABC’s One Life to Live becomes
the first soap opera to feature an African American character,
portrayed by Ellen Holly, who plays a black woman passing
as white.
In 1969, James Earl Jones received
a Tony Award for Best Actor for his portrayal in the “Great
White Hope”.
The Bill Cosby Show variety show
debuts in 1969. Also, in 1969, he received his fourth Emmy for a
TV variety show.
Della Reese gets her own variety
show on CBS in 1969.
Arthur Mitchell co-founds the
Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969.
Gordon Parks’ “Learning Tree” is
released in Hollywood, marking the first post World War II film
to be directed by an African American in 1969.
Jimi Hendrix dies on September 18,
1970.
In 1970, the Flip Wilson Show
debuts on NBC.
In 1971, Isaac Hayes’ recording “Theme
from Shaft” is a number one pop hit and will win an Academy
Award for Best Song in 1972.
Jazz great Louis Armstrong dies on
July 6, 1971 in Queens, N Y.
In 1971, major civil rights organizations
form a movement against Blax-ploitation movies.
Mahalia Jackson dies on January 27,
1972 in Evergreen Park, Illinois
In 1988, August Wilson’s play “Joe
Turner’s Come and Gone” opens on Broadway.
Morgan Freeman stars in “Driving
Miss Daisy” in 1987.
Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” is released
in 1992.
Actor Clevon Little dies in 1992.
Lizzie ‘Memphis Minnie’ Douglass,
country-blues singer is born on June 3, 1897.
William Levi Dawson’s “Negro Folk
Symphony” is performed at Carnegie Hall by the Philadelphia
Symphony Orchestra in 1934.
In 1943, Othello opens on Broadway with
Paul Robeson in the title role.
Fats Waller,
pianist and composer (‘Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” and
“Stormy Weather”) dies on December 15, 1943 in Kansas City, Miss
